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Focus on the Franco-Italian project PROSANTE, and assistance from the MOT

Between 2018 and 2021, the MOT provided comprehensive assistance on the legal component of this project, which involves three partners: Briançon Hospital, the ASLTO3* and the Piedmont Region.

In this cross-border territory where the two sides are very interlinked in terms of healthcare, the goal was to facilitate treatment pathways and to create a healthcare community for Franco-Italian practitioners and patients. The areas on which the MOT worked in this cross-border initiative were: medical transport services, healthcare protocols, confidentiality of medical data and ad hoc interventions by doctors, etc.

For each phase of its assistance, the MOT has acted at three levels:
- examining the possibilities for cross-border cooperation in the territory provided by the national and European frameworks;
- making proposals for changes to standards to establish long-term cooperation;
- initiating lobbying of the competent local and national authorities on either side of the border.

The assessment was made that cross-border healthcare arrangements are weak, and these shortcomings are visible on a daily basis in cross-border exchanges. The practitioners concerned work by specialism and in response to the most pressing needs, in order to facilitate the mobility of health professionals and patients. But this way of working, which is laborious and patchy, is not optimal over the long term. Therefore, the efforts to improve the legal provisions in place and provide an overall framework for cooperation, notably by concluding a framework agreement on healthcare between France and Italy, started during the course of the project, will require long-term work.

The MOT has put the groundwork in place, emphasising the crucial nature of such provisions and ensuring that the national and decentralised authorities and ministries concerned take ownership of them.

More info: https://alcotraprosante.eu/

* The Italian local healthcare unit.