Virtual hospital: il futuro del sistema sociosanitario? Un approccio basato su un expert consensus all’interno della Regione Veneto

Abstract. Today, social and health systems are globally facing some challenges dictated by a growing mismatch between the demand for care services and the supply of human and economic resources, a situation that in the past two years has been exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic. This has led to an increase in digitalization, which has proved to be a crucial tool for developing and applying new organizational models at hospital and territorial levels to address the system's various critical issues. From such a perspective, the virtual hospital has emerged as a potential model for increasing the effectiveness and efficiency in the provision of health and social services. Starting from these premises, an Efte (estimate, feedback, talk, estimate) approach was used to acquire an expert consensus within a multidisciplinary panel of academics and healthcare executives from the Veneto Region, Italy. This article reports the experts' opinion on the possible application of the virtual hospital model in the national context, starting from the evidence and good practices existing at international level, noting the potential advantages and barriers to its implementation. In addition, the most relevant investment areas for the required tangible and intangible assets are analyzed.