[Relationships between the National Health Service and universities as regulated by the legislative decree of 30 December 1992, No. 502 and its successive modifications and integrations].

The mutual relationship between the Schools of Medicine and the Italian National Health Service are discussed according to the commitment following the implementation of the new Health Service reorganization. The organization of teaching hospitals and the curricula for health professionals are considered in order to highlight their possible impact on the new organization. New opportunities seem to arise for the medical schools to improve the level of quality of their performance according to the aims and objectives of the National health plan for the years 1994-1996. Three topics are discussed in depth (i) the improvement of skills for health managers, (ii) the role of health service research in planning and evaluating the way health care is delivered with particular attention payed to the impact of DRGs as system of payment recently introduced for financing hospitals and community services. Finally it seems reasonable to expect a rise of quality in teaching programs and the development of newly designed ones for continuous training according to the needs of the health care system.