In the digital age, an increasing number of people rely on the internet to gather information and make informed decisions.

In healthcare, this phenomenon has significant implications for patient mobility, particularly in Italy, where individuals can seek treatment freely across provinces.

This paper examines the relationship between broadband penetration and patient mobility in the Italian healthcare market. Using two complementary studies, we analyze how internet connectivity influences patients’ decisions to seek care outside their home provinces, focusing on oncological treatments.

Our findings suggest that broadband access reduces inappropriate mobility by correcting misperceptions about local healthcare quality.

However, digital inequalities continue to reinforce disparities in access to reliable health information, emphasizing the need for targeted policy interventions to expand internet coverage and combat misinformation.

Dott.ssa Irene Torrini
Postdoctoral Researcher in Economics at Bocconi University

Recently published statistics show that 50% of patients over 70 are discharged from the hospital 7 days later, due to lack of social support after hospitalization. Despite this alarming evidence, social care remains largely underfunded and the interdependency between the social and hospital systems unquantified.
In this study, we merge admission- and municipality-level national data and use a two-stage econometric approach to estimate the effect of municipal social spending on hospital-related outcomes for elderly patients. The hypothesis we test is that hospital care is a substitute for poor social services.
The main findings show that a higher level of social spending reduces the number of hospitalizations, as well as the length of stay and cost per admission. These results call for urgent policy interventions to increase post-discharge social support for the elderly and increase coordination among different areas of care.

La recente letteratura medica, psicologica e sociologica mostra, in maniera sempre più inequivocabile, lo stretto collegamento tra fruizione di beni artistico-culturali e benessere soggettivo.

Sulla scia di questi risultati, sono sempre di più gli studi sperimentali volti a misurare l’impatto dell’esposizione a beni artistici e della partecipazione ad eventi culturali sulla salute, sull’efficacia delle cure mediche e sugli indici di gradimento delle prestazioni sanitarie.

Il workshop online “ARTS AND CULTURE AS RENEWABLE HUMAN RESOURCES FOR HEALTH” promosso dal Dipartimento di Medicina e dal Dipartimento di Economia, Metodi Quantitativi e Strategie d’Impresa dell’Università di Milano Bicocca ci consentirà di approfondire questa affascinante tematiche con illustri relatori: la Prof.ssa Doris Sommer dell’Harvard University, il Prof. Pierluigi Sacco dell’Università “G D’Annunzio” di Chieti e Pescara, la Prof.ssa Marina Cazzaniga e il Prof. Luca Corazzini dell’Università di Milano Bicocca.

31/01/2025 h 11.30 in Aula De Lillo (II piano Edificio U7)

Dott.ssa Irene Torrini
Postdoctoral Researcher in Economics at Bocconi University

Forgotten in the hospital: The effect of municipal social spending on hospital-related outcomes of the elderly

Recently published statistics show that 50% of patients over 70 are discharged from the hospital 7 days later, due to lack of social support after hospitalization. Despite this alarming evidence, social care remains largely underfunded and the interdependency between the social and hospital systems unquantified.
In this study, we merge admission- and municipality-level national data and use a two-stage econometric approach to estimate the effect of municipal social spending on hospital-related outcomes for elderly patients. The hypothesis we test is that hospital care is a substitute for poor social services.
The main findings show that a higher level of social spending reduces the number of hospitalizations, as well as the length of stay and cost per admission. These results call for urgent policy interventions to increase post-discharge social support for the elderly and increase coordination among different areas of care.