The health district is a territorial branch of the Local Health Authority (ASL) within the region, with an expected catchment area of at least 60,000 inhabitants (with exceptions in geographically challenging or sparsely populated areas).
The district provides its members with primary care services through: general practitioners, pediatricians, continuity of care services (formerly on-call medical services), specialist clinics, home care, palliative care (at home and in hospices), counseling centers, prosthetic care, rehabilitation, addiction services, direct supply of medications, artificial nutrition products, and medical devices, mental health and neuropsychiatric services for children and adolescents, and forensic medicine. The district also coordinates with the municipalities to provide care in residential homes and day centers for frail elderly people and people with disabilities.
With Ministerial Decree 77 of 2022, which redefined the organization of local healthcare, health districts will have to aim for a catchment area of 100,000 inhabitants and include: one hub community home for every 40-50,000 inhabitants, spoke community homes based on need, one family (or community) nurse for every 3,000 inhabitants, a local operations center, a community hospital, and a continuity of care unit, i.e., a mobile team made up of a doctor and a nurse for the management (including through telemedicine tools) of patients at home in particularly vulnerable situations (clinical instability, infectious disease, epidemic outbreaks).