three questions on the control of work stoppages after the sanction of six doctors

The Tarn Primary Health Insurance Fund accuses six doctors in the department of having prescribed too many sick leave in recent months.

Six doctors were sanctioned by the Tarn Primary Health Insurance Fund, which accuses them of having prescribed too many sick leave in recent months. The MG France union denounces “campaign intended to intimidate prescribers”. Since last June, the Ministry of the Economy wants to hunt down sick leave of convenience. Is there really a hunt for work stoppages in France? Franceinfo takes stock.

1 How are doctors monitored and sanctioned?

A dedicated service, the Health Insurance medical control service, monitors the number of prescribed work leaves. If he notices that a doctor is delivering more than average, two devices can be used. On the one hand, the placing under “prior agreement”: for a maximum of six months, the practitioner must justify each of his prescriptions and a social security medical advisor validates, or not, his decision. This is the sanction that was used against the six practitioners from Tarn.

On the other hand, doctors can also be put “under objective”: there, they undertake to reduce the number of prescriptions with a quantified objective. If they do not respect their commitment, they risk a financial sanction.

2 Has the government accelerated controls in recent months?

Yes, the Ministry of the Economy launched a real campaign last June against “drifts” seeing the increase in work stoppages. Around a thousand doctors are in the government’s sights, identified as heavy prescribers. According to Social Security, 40% of them agreed to be placed “on target” and therefore to reduce the number of prescribed work stoppages.

Another 20,000 practitioners are also currently being closely monitored, with visits to their offices and interviews to try to change their prescribing habits. An effort is also being made on social networks: 450 cyber-investigators are trained to scrutinize “fake prescriptions”, delivered in a few clicks by fraudsters.

3 What more restrictive measure will come into force from January 1, 2024?

Work sick leave of more than three days delivered via teleconsultation will be prohibited, unless the practitioner is your usual general practitioner or if you live in a medical desert, according to a provision of the 2024 social security finance bill. to make savings while in 2024 Social Security wants to reduce its daily allowance expenditure by 240 million euros, according to the report on Health Insurance costs and income, published in July 2023.

In 2022, 8.8 million stoppages were issued, which represents a budget of nearly 16 billion euros in daily allowances (work stoppages for Covid included), according to the latest figures from the national health insurance fund. Health Insurance.