To take care of confined patients and relieve congestion in hospitals, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, has relaxed the conditions for the exercise of telemedicine. Jean-Baptiste Gamblin, deputy general manager at Doc Avenue, a free teleconsultation platform for patients, deciphers how his practice is an ally in the fight against the coronavirus.
- Faced with the coronavirus epidemic, the conditions for taking charge of teleconsultation by the Social Security have been relaxed
- This practice makes it possible to unclog the offices of city doctors and to avoid the movement of contaminated patients
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced measures to facilitate access to telemedicine. Faced with the spread of the coronavirus, teleconsultation, i.e. an exchange between the doctor and the patient by webcam, appears to be an alternative or even a solution to unclog doctors. Jean-Baptiste Gamblin, Deputy Managing Director at Doc Avenue, a free teleconsultation platform for patients, answers three questions about teleconsultation.
What changes the decree issued by Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, on March 9 on the opening of teleconsultation?
The decree facilitates access to teleconsultation. For me it is a good dynamic because it is a concrete axis of help for patients and doctors. The decree relaxes the reimbursement conditions for patients. Before, you had to have physically consulted a doctor in the last twelve months and have an emergency to justify a teleconsultation with a doctor other than your general practitioner. These two conditions have been removed.
How can teleconsultation help in the fight against the coronavirus?
It is an ally in the fight against the coronavirus. Patients have become aware of this and healthcare professionals are using it as a real help. It helps relieve doctors, reassure the population, avoid the movement of patients infected with the coronavirus, or another disease, and thus prevent them from infecting other people. This makes it possible to fight all together against epidemics. On our platform, we observed a 40 to 45% increase in teleconsultations at the beginning of March. We are not happy about it, it is not a business opportunity, but it shows how useful it can be.
How does the teleconsultation work?
It is a service which is free and which allows the patient to have immediate access to a doctor. All you need is an internet connection, a smartphone or a computer with a webcam. The doctor cannot auscultate but the teleconsultation constitutes a first filter in order to reassure and make a remote diagnosis. However, this does not replace physical appointments. During a teleconsultation, the health professional has a great phase of listening and observing the patient in order to be able to guide him. There are also pharmacies across the country that help doctors get more accurate data. These are present in pharmacies, in a confidential space. The pharmacist stands next to the patient and can accompany the doctor by providing him with more precise data thanks to connected objects. The first fear of the doctor is to say that it replaces the physical consultation, but that is not the case. It is simply a first filter. In fact, it is an act that they already perform with the telephone consultation.
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