Improving the quality of the service and reducing the bureaucratic burdens for frail people, continuing the simplification activity for the recognition of civil disability. This is the goal that INPS is pursuing, also thanks to the funds guaranteed by the PNRR, through a strategy that is divided into stages and which aims to:
- speed up and automate the liquidation process of financial support;
- offer updated information to all actors involved in the process;
- make available to medical staff useful information for assessing the state of disability, using artificial intelligence algorithms.
The project has already achieved remarkable results. In 2021, about 84% of the requests for attendance allowance were paid automatically and in the first quarter of 2022 there are already 320.000 applications instructed with this procedure. Furthermore, starting from April, INPS has automated the liquidation procedures of the monthly assistance allowance and the disability pension.
The review of the ongoing process also involved the transmission of health documentation, allowing for a reduction in medical visits in the presence. The presentation of the online documentation, launched by the Institute, represents a turning point in the daily life of users: in this way procedures are speeded up, the impact on potential beneficiaries is reduced, and a positive effect on overall waiting times is recorded.
To date, about 204.000 documents have already been sent, in line with the process of re-absorption of stocks linked to the pandemic period in the provinces where the first forensic examination is carried out directly by the Institute.
But that is not all. INPS is working on the activation of an information and consultancy service dedicated to fragile users. The current application services Sportello Mobile (which allows people with disabilities and the elderly the direct solution of problems through access to a dedicated service without the need to move from home) and Sportello Voce (dedicated to users with hearing disabilities, who communicate mainly using the Italian Sign Language (LIS) and the Labial Language) will be integrated into a single application, with the addition of new features such as: automatic telephone number recognition, cloud switchboard, video assistance and chatbot.