In a very recent ruling published last June 29th, the Court of Milan confirmed that the activities of collecting patients' health-data, carried out by a healthcare company in a dedicated facility (so called "Health Point") in order to transmit them to another Center for the relevant assessment (so-called "Center Provider), is completely legitimate without the need for any medical activity authorisation.
According to the Milan-based court such activities undoubtedly integrate services of a technical nature and are not strictly medical-related. On that basis, they can fall into the scope of the so-called "Service Center" as described in the Guidelines on Medicine approved by the General Assembly of the Superior Health Council on July 10, 2012 (most recently confirmed in the Ministerial Decree of Health of 21 September 2022). Specifically, the performance of such activities is not subject to the obtaining of the authorisation required for the exercise of medical activity.
The ruling also specifies that the presence of nursing staff on site is irrelevant, since it is at most an activity of mere logistical and practical support aimed at acquiring patients data.
The judgment turns out to be one of the first precedents on the subject and represents an important step for the development in Italy of Telemedicine activities.
In the case at hand, the telemedicine company, Health Point S.p.A. has been assisted for litigation and healthcare profiles by attorneys Guido Foglia and Giulio di Fabio of the firm DAC Beachcroft Italy
