France did the math and came to a worrying conclusion. It’s something self-employed doctors have been warning about for some time. Every year, 27 million appointments are wasted in the country because patients do not show up for consultations, do not complete their check-ups, and do not cancel with sufficient notice. And worst of all, the Ordre National des Medecins warns that this phenomenon is “constantly increasing.” Tired of dealing with these figures, France’s newly appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal decided to solve the problem. How? By coup. Of course it’s good.

The philosophy is very simple, and Attlan plans to implement it in 2025: If you scheduled a medical consultation and skip it without warning, take out your wallet.

Millions of missed appointments. The number resonates. Both because of its size and who calculated it. France wastes 27 million healthcare appointments each year, according to data managed by the National Academy of Medicine and the National Council of Physicians, two of the country’s most important trade associations. And he does this in the most ridiculous way: Because patients do not come for examination when it is their turn and do not call and notify in advance.

The Academy and the National Council do not detail how they estimated this figure or what type of consultations they mentioned, but caution: seedlings “It seriously disrupts private doctors’ daily work and hospital consultations.” The industry estimates that 6 to 10% of patients leave their doctors hanging each week; In practical terms, this means a loss of approximately two hours per week “regardless of discipline.”

Click on the image to go to the tweet.

Pay if you don’t go. This is the solution proposed by Gabriel Attal, who replaced Élisabeth Borné as Prime Minister. In a recent interview, the leader talked about one way to combat absenteeism: Those who do not keep medical appointments and do not cancel them in advance will have to pay a five-euro fine. “We can no longer afford this,” the head of government explains in compiled statements. Le Monde. Therefore, it proposes an “accountability mechanism” that will be reflected at the legal level.

French media state that the Government’s goal is to implement the measure from January 2025, as long as the proposal is processed first. The proposed mechanism is simple: If the patient does not show up for his appointment and does not cancel at least 24 hours later, the doctor or online appointment platforms such as Doctolib will impose a 5 euro penalty.

“This mechanism will encourage patients to come to their appointments and open up millions of slots.” It was announced on Saturday Through account X, Attal did not specify whether the measure was intended only for private consultations or for the entire system.

Changes in healthcare. Inside his tweet France’s new Prime Minister is introducing other changes to the healthcare system, such as the requirement to visit a general practitioner’s office as a requirement for access to a psychologist and the amount reimbursed by the State for such appointments, and the increase of places where doctors can train. or the simplification of almost twenty healthcare procedures that would allow pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics for cystitis, for example.

Aim, sums up Attal, is to “offset 15 to 20 million medical appointments per year and simplify the work of professionals.” He had already promised in his speech on January 30 that he would fight against the difficulties that the French may face in accessing the healthcare system. Later, in consultations, he also hinted at his prescription for ending the sit-ins. “If you have an appointment with the doctor and the doctor does not come without warning, you pay,” the leader said.

A professional claim. Although Attal argued that the five-euro fine, currently called a “tax lapin” in France, would help “free up millions of places”, the measure responds to an old demand from professional medical associations, which have been complaining for years about the effects of absenteeism.

URPS was referring to a survey conducted in 2022 of private doctors in the Ille-de-France region; doctors claimed that they missed an average of two appointments a day and even faced up to five sit-ins these days. The result, professionals warned, was a “loss of the appeal of private practices”, making it harder to recruit new doctors.

“Seriously devastating”. “This phenomenon seriously disrupts the daily work of private doctors and hospital consultations, reduces the medical availability of doctors, restricts access to care for patients who really need it, and contributes to an increase in the number of patients visiting emergency rooms,” the decision states. and the National Medical Council concurred in a statement released in 2023.

Image | Craig Pattenaude (Unsplash)

in Xataka | France has found a new “tobacco” with which to declare war with taxes and restrictions: low-cost clothing