Roma – The physiotherapist and the pharmacist join hands to offer citizens a new model of proximity healthcare. This is how an innovative experiment is born, which sees the Order of Physiotherapists of Lazio (OFI Lazio), the Order of Pharmacists of Rome, Federfarma Roma and Assofarm Lazio working side by side: the goal is to bring rehabilitation services into pharmacies, which are increasingly becoming multifunctional facilities in the area.
The project, starting in the Metropolitan City of Roma, with the prospect of extending throughout the Lazio Region, provides for the presence of a physiotherapist in dedicated rooms within participating pharmacies.
Here the professional will offer consultations, evaluations and initial therapeutic guidance, directing users, depending on the case, towards private practices or public rehabilitation services.
The agreement was announced in Rome during the second regional congress of OFI Lazio with the symbolic signature of the president of the Order of Physiotherapists of Lazio, Annamaria Servadio, the president of the Order of Pharmacists of Rome, Giuseppe Guaglianone, the president of Federfarma Roma, Andrea Cicconetti, and the coordinator of Assofarm Lazio, Enrico Cellentani.
'I believe - explained to the Dire agency the president of the Order of Physiotherapists of Lazio, Annamaria Servadio - that the agreement between physiotherapists and pharmacists is fundamental in this historical moment for the redesign of the territorial network.
It is an agreement that has seen the work of this Order together with the Order of Pharmacists of Rome as the first interlocutor. The work began last year on the occasion of the first regional conference of OFI Lazio and the agreement was the mandate of the last congress.
'The agreement with pharmacists - continued Servadio - is very important because, in fact, it redraws the role of the physiotherapist within the territorial network and within pharmacies. The regulation of the pharmacy of services dates back to over ten years since its institution, but today it sees the role of the physiotherapist in an innovative way with respect to the evolution of the healthcare context, within which pharmacies are protagonists'.
'Therefore - highlighted the president of OFI Lazio - thanks to this agreement we are designing the new dress of the physiotherapist within a territory where the pharmacy certainly plays a leading role'.
Alongside the Health Authorities, the agreement sees the involvement of the Lazio Region for an integration of this initiative with the broader regional health planning.
The protocol aims to create a proximity system, also in relation to the need for rehabilitation health, to offer the citizen who accesses the pharmacy the expertise of a physiotherapist for counseling and therapeutic approach, to direct the response to the rehabilitation need, due to its complexity, to the general practitioner or specialist or to the rehabilitation facilities indicated by the Health Authority, enhancing the management skills of the physiotherapist, in the self-care phase in the rehabilitation and maintenance enablement paths verified and guided by the physiotherapist, to create a proximity network between the pharmacy, pharmacists and freelance physiotherapists present in the area and, finally, to promote, also with other health professionals, empowerment interventions in the citizenship through health education interventions particularly on lifestyles and in relation to chronic or chronicizing pathologies.
'The agreement between pharmacists and physiotherapists - the words of the president of the Order of Pharmacists of Rome, Giuseppe Guaglianone - arises from a deeply shared belief between the two professions: the strategic objective of improving local healthcare can only be achieved within a framework of organic and structured interprofessional collaboration between the healthcare professionals who work in the territory.
Health services for citizens can improve, increase and be more efficient only if each profession, respecting its own competences, makes itself available to develop and make more efficient local assistance, thus promoting the protection of citizens' health, through programs and initiatives conducted in an integrated manner with other professions and with local health authorities and institutions.
According to Guaglianone, 'there is no longer a time for closed gardens or for the search for unlikely records on which is the most important profession, because all professionals who take care of citizens by providing different services and performances are equally necessary and important: this is the starting point that has pushed the Orders of Pharmacists, Doctors and Nurses of Rome in recent months to seal a 'holy alliance', which also wants to be a 'healthy alliance', to launch joint initiatives aimed at strengthening and improving local assistance, to the benefit of citizens'.
'The agreement with physiotherapists - he also said - is part of this trend: the agreement with Ofi Lazio, made possible by the decisive, convinced adhesion of the acronyms of private and public pharmacies, Federfarma Roma and Assofarm, aims to improve the response to citizens in terms of health services in the rehabilitation field, through a structured collaboration between physiotherapists, pharmacies and physiotherapists, facilitating appropriate pathways, faster response times and proximity of care, with the involvement of the Health Authorities and the Lazio Region itself'.
'In other words - the president of the Order of Pharmacists of Rome underlined - it is about creating a system of proximity, also in relation to the need for rehabilitative health, through a network between pharmacies, pharmacists and physiotherapists freelancers present in the territory, to offer citizens who access the pharmacy the expertise of a physiotherapist for counseling and therapeutic approach. For us, better, more efficient and functional health care and above all truly close to the citizen can only come from initiatives and programs like this'.
'I am very satisfied with the signing of this agreement - declared the president of Federfarma Roma, Andrea Cicconetti - because pharmacies represent a fundamental proximity facility for citizens, and a synergy between healthcare professionals can only enrich the offer of services, responding more effectively to care needs.
In this case, thanks to the collaboration with physiotherapists, the possibility of defining clear guidelines and regulating the relationship between two central professional figures in the health system finally opens up. I truly hope that this represents the beginning of a fruitful collaboration for everyone, with the primary health of the citizen always at the center.
'For Assofarm Lazio, the agreement with physiotherapists, other associations representing pharmacies and the Order of Pharmacists - stated the coordinator of Assofarm Lazio, Enrico Cellentani - is extremely important because it affirms a principle: the intervention of pharmacies as points in the territory for the provision of health services as well as strictly for the sale of drugs is in the collective interest.
So it is not an interest that the pharmacy has against the other categories interested in the pharmacy of services, but it is an additional opportunity for those who work in the territory to have points, places where they can provide services that are increasingly close to the needs of a citizenry that is finding it increasingly difficult, for reasons of age, pathologies, to move, to queue, to relocate on the territory. This is the essential element.
'Health professions must work together to offer increasingly local services and, in this, the pharmacy is a privileged place given its spread across the territory. In this context - concluded Cellentani - municipal pharmacies are even more so, clearly, because their presence is protected, in Rome in particular but not only, by the presence of difficult territories, where bringing the local health service is particularly felt'.
The agreement signed provides that the Order of Pharmacists of Rome will assume a supervisory role on the implementation and operational management of the collaboration between pharmacists and physiotherapists in pharmacies, ensuring full compliance with the Code of Ethics and the professional skills of each figure.
The Order, together with OFI Lazio, will also be responsible for designing and organizing specific training courses for professionals involved in the initiative, with the aim of ensuring high standards of quality, safety and appropriateness in the services provided.
On the operational front, Federfarma Roma and Assofarm will have the task of collecting the adhesions of the pharmacies interested in hosting the activity of the physiotherapists. These activities will take place in dedicated premises, compliant with the hygiene, confidentiality and suitability requirements provided for evaluation and rehabilitation consultations.
The same organizations will also take care of the continuous updating of the list of participating pharmacies and will offer support for any reservations of public health services requested by citizens as part of the path started with the physiotherapist.
OFI Lazio, for its part, will select physiotherapists operating as freelancers, who will be present in participating pharmacies to carry out counseling and initial therapeutic approach activities. The professionals will be able to direct citizens, depending on the needs that emerge, to physiotherapy studios located nearby or, in coordination with the competent ASL, to public rehabilitation services available in the area.
An organizational model will also be defined to ensure effective coordination between pharmacies and the Regional Health Service facilities, promoting an integrated and accessible care pathway.
Freelance physiotherapists registered with OFI Lazio can apply to act as counselors at only one pharmacy participating in the project and can only apply for their own professional practice to provide services related to a single pharmacy, located in territorial proximity. The two activities cannot be performed in the same pharmacy.
The agreement signed between the Order of Pharmacists of Rome, the Order of Physiotherapists of Lazio, Federfarma Roma and Assofarm Lazio will last one year.
Article published by A. Carlino on June 9, 2025, at 14:58 PM
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Comments (1)
This new agreement between pharmacists and physiotherapists is very interesting. I hope it can really improve services for citizens. Local healthcare is an important thing, but we'll see if it really works as promised.