The case of the italian pharmacies and parapharmacies of services from the italian law 502/92 up to covid and the supreme court of cassation sentence 2022: from "distributors" to real health facilities for the elderly population

With the transformation of the SSN and following the legislative decrees 502/517 and 229/98 (Bindi reform) as well as with the subsequent regional regulations, the functional profile of the territorial pharmacies was that of the resale of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products and the pharmacist assumes the role of commercial entrepreneur. After this epochal turning point, the situation has changed even more positively as a result of law 69/209 and legislative decree 153/2000 which precisely define the functional and operational characteristics of the service pharmacies: phytotherapy, telecardiology,telespirmometers, etc. The pharmacy of services is therefore an optimal response to the crisis of many suburban pharmacies that were suffering due to the reduction of the population. Conclusions: Pandemic has in any case accelerated that process of transformation of Pharmacies from commercial establishments to territorial health centers, demonstrating in the field the enormous value of well-organized pharmacies providing support and care services for many chronic patients and the elderly that the pharmacy, on the basis of qualified pathways, is no longer to be considered a marginal entity but a new capillary response to increasing services for the benefit of disadvantaged citizens (elderly de decentralized in particular) in which pharmacists can buffer the effects of the crisis by relaunching the their role as health workers