ANCONA, Italy – The rollout of a new regional healthcare digitalization program in Italy’s Marche region has been halted after widespread issues with the software, dubbed “Dedalus” by healthcare workers, disrupted hospital operations. The regional government put the installation on hold Monday, February 24, 2026, following reports of slowdowns, data loss and system crashes dating back to its initial trial in August 2025.
The problems began during a pilot program at the hospital in Camerino, according to reports, and quickly spread to other facilities including Fano, Ascoli, Senigallia, and Ancona. The software, intended to streamline processes within emergency departments and improve patient care through electronic health records, instead created significant operational difficulties. The planned activation at the San Benedetto del Tronto hospital has been indefinitely postponed.
“We are trying to improve because there is nothing else we can do,” said Paolo Calcinaro, the regional health assessor, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency. “This is a PNRR contract that I found. Evidently, the product that was tested in some of the first facilities needs many revisions, which are being done, but as long as there are no visible results in improving the product, it is not possible to extend it to other hospitals.” The PNRR refers to Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, funded by the European Union.
Dedalus, the company providing the software, acknowledged the issues and attributed some of the difficulties to integration challenges with existing hospital systems and network connectivity. “A significant part of the discomfort that has occurred is attributable to some of these pre-existing subsystems – which must necessarily learn to communicate – and to connectivity: interruptions attributable to the network inevitably determine slowdowns,” the company stated, as reported by the Corriere Adriatico. Dedalus claims these network problems have been addressed.
The company also pointed to the need to standardize processes across different hospitals, which previously operated with varying levels of digital integration. “It is also necessary to abandon ancient procedures that do not adhere to the guidelines, insert new security elements and rebuild new usage habits that, in this phase, are representing a burden on the perform of doctors,” Dedalus said. A dedicated task force has been activated to resolve ongoing issues.
Marta Ruggeri, a regional councilor for the Five Star Movement (M5S), criticized the situation, stating that the Marche region’s healthcare system is experiencing a “strong difficulty on the computer plane.” She cited a four-hour computer outage at the Mazzoni Hospital in Ascoli and other regional facilities as further evidence of the system’s instability.
Dedalus emphasized that the software is currently used in hundreds of hospitals across Europe and that complex system implementations rarely proceed without adjustments. The company warned that halting the project could jeopardize access to PNRR funding, potentially depriving the Marche region of a modern, integrated healthcare system. The rollout was accelerated to meet PNRR deadlines, with implementation in eight hospitals occurring within six months, a timeframe Dedalus acknowledged is typically shorter than recommended for such complex systems.
The regional government has not announced a timeline for resuming the Dedalus implementation.
