IRCCS

What is an IRCCS

The definition of IRCCS – scientific hospitalization and treatment institute, was offered by Legislative Decree 288/2003 which indicates them as “Bodies of national importance with autonomy and legal personality which, according to standards of excellence, pursue research purposes , mainly translational, in the biomedical field and in the organization and management of health services, together with highly specialized hospitalization and treatment services”.

It is, therefore, a public or private health facility, which combines diagnosis, care and clinical research. These institutes, by virtue of their contribution to the country’s research, receive public funding.

The G.B. Bietti Foundation is recognized as IRCCS

The G.B. Foundation Bietti for the Study and Research in Ophthalmology ONLUS, a non-profit organization established in 1984 and legally recognized by the Presidency of the Republic, has been officially recognized by the Ministry of Health as a Scientific Hospitalization and Treatment Institute for the discipline of Ophthalmology at the British Hospital – San Giovanni Addolorata Hospital with ministerial decree of 15 February 2005 (Official Gazette No. 50 of 2 March 2005), confirmed by decree of 2 May 2011 signed by the Minister of Health Ferruccio Fazio in agreement with the President of the Lazio Region Renata Polverini (Official Gazette no. 120 of 25 May 2011), and further confirmed by decree of 3 December 2015 signed by the Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin (Official Gazette no. 301 of 29.12.2015).

A recognition that was possible thanks to the documented clinical-scientific activity of excellence that led the G.B Bietti Foundation to be a reference point in the national and international scientific community.

The Quality System of the IRCCS G.B. Bietti Foundation complies with the UNI EN ISO 9001:2015 standard for the “Design and implementation of scientific research activities and related publications in the ophthalmological field, design and delivery of courses in the ECM field”.

Moreover, the IRCCS has been recognised as a European Centre of Excellence for Clinical Trials by EVICR.net (European Vision Institute Clinical Research Network) in Coimbra, Portugal.

Find out more about our Quality Certifications

G.B. Bietti IRCCS Foundation and translational research

IRCCS are structures in which the research carried out in the laboratory is transferred to clinical activity. We are talking about translational research. The research conducted by the IRCCS and, therefore, also by the G.B. Bietti Foundation is made available for daily clinical activity. It is, or rather “translated”, in particular, to the healthcare facilities of the National Health Service, to meet standards of excellence and to provide “highly specialized” healthcare services.

Therefore, the underlying philosophy of translational research is that of the timely application of results for the benefit of patients.

Find out more

The role of IRCCS in the Regional Health Plan

The Regional Health Plan 2010-2012 specifies that IRCCS are called upon to play an important role in the development of the Regional Health Service at different levels:

continuous training for Regional Health Service staff by providing ECM courses aimed both at training on newly introduced interventions and on the methodology for evaluating interventions and health research;
evaluation of new technologies, new preventive interventions and new organizational models;
development of research on methodological and organizational aspects with a high level of transferability to other SSR structures with the construction of research networks at regional level integrated with national and international ones;
support for SSR activities that require high specialization with the possibility of acting as technical support and/or reference center for surveillance and control activities;
function as a reference centre in the context of regional programming in “hub and spoke” network systems.

At the IRCCS Fondazione G.B. Bietti is assigned by the Lazio Region the code 913 as a company and the code 120913 as an institute (Prot. n. 1151314 A/012123 of 09/27/2005).

IRCCS Confirmation Procedure:

The recognition of the scientific character of public and private structures occurs with reference to one or more thematic areas, referred to in Annex 1 of the Legislative Decree. no. 200/2022 and is subject to possession, based on a valid qualification, of the following requirements:

  • legal personality under public law or private law
  • ownership of healthcare authorization and accreditation
  • cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the organization, quality of the structures and technological level of the equipment, adequacy of the organizational structure with respect to the research purposes and economic, financial and patrimonial balance, as well as at least 35 percent of researchers with an employment contract according to the national collective agreement public and/or private healthcare workers. For the purposes of calculating this percentage, the staff dedicated to healthcare and the staff seconded exclusively on the basis of agreements with the Universities are not taken into account.
    characteristics of excellence of the level of highly specialized hospitalization and care activity directly carried out in the last three years, or of the technical-scientific contribution provided, as part of a biomedical research activity recognized at national and international level, in order to ensure a higher quality of care activity, certified by public structures of the National Health Service, of the complexity of the services provided, of the structural characteristics, of the volume and type of activities and of the care path, as well as the qualification of clinical – care reference center at regional or supra-regional level for the thematic area to which it belongs
  • characteristics of excellence of the research activity carried out in the last three years in relation to the specific discipline assigned according to internationally recognized bibliometric systems
  • demonstrated ability to network with research institutes in the same reference area, to collaborate with other public and private bodies, as well as to demonstrate the number of multicenter clinical trials and the number of participations in community tenders
  • quality certification of services according to internationally recognized procedures. (art. 13 of Legislative Decree 16 October 2003, n. 288 and subsequent amendments and additions)
  • pursuant to article 13, legislative decree. no. 288/2003 and subsequent amendments, the qualification of reference center at regional or supra-regional level for the thematic area whose recognition is requested, as better specified in Annex 3 of Legislative Decree 200/2022, as well as the existence of the basin minimum usership on a territorial basis for thematic area of recognition, as identified in Annex 2 of the aforementioned legislative decree.

The procedure for confirming the scientific character is regulated pursuant to art. 15, paragraph 1, according to which every four years the IRCCS Foundations, the non-transformed Institutes and the IRCCS of private law send to the Ministry of Health their updated data certifying the continuation of the legal requirements, in accordance with the provisions of Annex B to the Decree ministerial 5 February 2015.

(Rif. https://www.salute.gov.it/portale/ricercaSanitaria/dettaglioContenutiRicercaSanitaria.jsp?lingua=italiano&id=1487&area=Ricerca%20sanitaria&menu=ssn )