BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that countries' health policies should give high priority to primary prevention of occupational health hazards. Scant data are available on health expenditure on workplace prevention and safety services and on its impact on occupational health outcomes in Italy and in other European countries.STUDY DESIGN: objective of the present study was to systematically retrieve, analyse and critically appraise the available national-level data on public health expenditure on workplace prevention and safety services as well as to correlate them with occupational health outcomes.METHODS: National-level data on total public health expenditure on prevention services, its share spent on workplace prevention and safety services as well as on number of workers receiving appropriate health surveillance were derived from the national public health expenditure monitoring system over a 8-year study period (2006-2013). An analytic approach was adopted to explore the association between health expenditure and occupational health services supply.RESULTS: The Italian National Health Service spends almost € 5 billion per year on preventive care, of which 13.3% are spent on workplace prevention and safety programmes (€ 645 million, € 10.6 per capita). There is wide heterogeneity between Italian regions.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are useful for health systems and policies analysis, national and international comparisons as well as for health policy makers to plan, implement and monitor occupational health prevention programmes.
Health Expenditures Health Policy