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The government wants to stop, from the summer of 2023, reimbursing work stoppages prescribed in teleconsultation by a doctor other than the attending physician.
“Over the last year, 110,000 work stoppages were made by teleconsultation. This was twice as many as the previous year and it will be twice as many this year”indicates this Tuesday, September 27 on franceinfo François Braun, Minister of Health and Prevention. “Of these 110,000 work stoppages, in 8 cases out of 10, these are patients who have a treating doctor and who have had a work stoppage taken by another doctor. That raises questions”he believes.
>> Disimbursement of certain work stoppages delivered by teleconsultation: “A masterful kick” to “low-cost medicine”, rejoices a doctor
The government wants to de-reimburse these work stoppages issued by teleconsultation by a doctor who is not the patient’s doctor, as part of the Social Security budget project. These stops cost “nearly 100 million euros last year”, explained the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal this Sunday. The government is wondering about the conditions for obtaining these judgments.
The Minister of Health affirms on franceinfo that the people who have been prescribed these medical stops by teleconsultation are “the same” than those who obtain medical leaves during physical appointments with a doctor. “There aren’t any more in the so-called ‘medical desert’ areas”he denies.
François Braun nevertheless ensures that “special cases” can be “dealt with on a case-by-case basis”for example if a “elderly person who is in an under-resourced area, who no longer has an attending physician because he has stopped working, he will be able to resort punctually if necessary to a work stoppage” via teleconsultation with another doctor.
“Teleconsultation is something very useful, it’s a tool, but like any tool that develops, we have to be extremely vigilant with regard to abuse of use”warns the minister.