Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna are confirmed as among the main destinations for patients who choose to be treated outside their own region. In 2025, Lombardy welcomed almost 117 thousand scheduled hospitalizations of non-residents, while Emilia-Romagna recorded approximately 102 thousand. The latter has the highest hospital economic balance, equal to 413 million euros, compared to 382 million in Lombardy.
Considering also the outpatient specialist, however, Lombardy occupies first place, with an overall positive balance of 486 million euros, followed by Emilia-Romagna with 423 million and Veneto with 166 million. The planned escape indices are lower than the national average of 10.97%: 6.61% in Lombardy and 8.68% in Emilia-Romagna.
In the South, Campania records the highest number of scheduled outgoing hospitalizations, over 55 thousand, and the most negative overall economic balance, close to 250 million euros. Calabria follows, with a deficit of 237 million and a planned escape index of 23.13%, more than double compared to the 10.87% of Campania. Sicily and Puglia follow with a negative balance.
The share of patients moving from Basilicata, where the escape rate reaches 32.64%, and from Molise, with 38.40%, is also particularly high. The latter, however, has a positive economic balance of 42 million euros, thanks to the value of the services provided to patients coming from other regions.
The territorial differences do not only concern the gap between North and South. Liguria, for example, has a planned flight rate of 16.13% and a negative economic balance of almost 82 million euros. In the Centre, Tuscany records a surplus in both hospitalizations and specialist outpatient care, while Marche and Umbria are negative in both sectors.
In Lazio, however, the negative balance of hospitalizations is offset by a surplus of 21 million euros in specialist care. Incoming scheduled hospitalizations, 40,770, slightly exceed outgoing ones, 39,449, but their economic value is approximately 30 million lower.
In Abruzzo the hospital balance worsened from -51.1 to -61.4 million euros in one year. The main destinations of patients from Abruzzo, in terms of value of scheduled hospitalizations, are Marche, Emilia-Romagna and Lazio.
Of the 670,519 hospitalizations outside the region, 541,159 are planned, while the others concern emergency situations or people treated in the region in which they are domiciled, different from that of residence. 56.9% of scheduled hospitalizations take place in a neighboring region. However, considering travel times, 43.5% require a journey of more than three hours. For outgoing outpatient services, this share reaches one in two. Distance therefore represents an important element for evaluating the accessibility of care.
Highly complex hospitalizations represent around a fifth of those scheduled outside the region, but absorb 55% of their economic value, equal to around 1.3 billion euros. Of the total mobility hospitalizations, their share rose from 16.5% to 17% in one year, while the economic burden went from 43.1% to 44.2%. The accredited private sector provides almost 77% of highly complex hospitalizations scheduled outside the region.
For rarer or more complex interventions, turning to specialized centers may represent an appropriate choice. The approximately 427 thousand scheduled hospitalizations of the other categories, between medium and low complexity and services at risk of inappropriateness, instead raise the question of the availability of alternatives closer to the place of residence.
Healthcare mobility also concerns outpatient specialists. In 2025, 19.15 million services were carried out outside the region of residence, for a total value of 665.4 million euros, an increase of almost 16 million compared to 2024. Laboratory tests represent almost seven out of ten services, while therapies and diagnostic tests together absorb around two thirds of the expenditure.
Compared to the period before the pandemic, hospitalizations outside the region decreased by 5.3%, while their nominal economic value increased from 2.84 to 2.95 billion euros. The share of total hospitalizations remains slightly higher than that of 2019, going from 8.55% to 8.66%.
The slight decline recorded in the last year is therefore not enough to establish whether it has become easier to get treatment close to home. To understand the reasons for travel, it is also necessary to consider the type of services, distances traveled and waiting times.
