While the MG France union is asking for an increase of 23 euros for the home visit. Pourquoidocteur returns to what this activity represents in the overall practice of physicians.
Will medical home visits justified by the patient’s state of health go from 33 to 56 euros? In any case, this is the request made by the first French union of general practitioners, MG France. At a press conference on Friday, union representatives explained the reasons for this proposal. For its president, Dr Claude Leicher, “a home visit is always complicated, it is always long, there is plenty to see. The duration of a home visit would be at least half an hour, not counting the travel time. Concretely, he wants the new price (56 euros) to be brought up to the level of the home visit for patients with neurodegenerative diseases: 46 euros per consultation + 10 euros increase for travel. While this union of general practitioners is calling for a substantial increase in the rate for home visits, pourquoidoctor looks back at what traveling home really represents in the overall exercise of French doctors.
Only 12% of doctors’ activity
The average duration of a working week for a doctor is 57 hours according to the latest figures from the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation of Statistics (DREES), including all their professional activities. Consultations in the office and visits to patients’ homes constitute the heart of the activity of general practitioners. In a DREES report published in March 2012, they said they spent 9 half-days a week. However, medical visits represent only 12% of the total number of procedures performed by general practitioners, according to 2010 data from Assurance Maladie. A share that has fallen sharply in recent years even if regional disparities remain. Indeed, it is always twice as high in PACA (15%) than in Pays de Loire (8%).
Evolution of medical visits in France (Source Irdes)
A doctor / CNAM agreement in 2002 which bore fruit
While the share of medical visits has long represented nearly a third of total medical consultations, in October 2002, the implementation of a new fee system for visits depending on their medical justification made it possible to significantly reduce their number. Thus, as soon as the increase of 10 euros for travel for a medically justified visit was implemented, the expenses linked to the visits of liberal general practitioners fell by 19% during the last quarter of 2003. More precisely, between the periods July 2001 / February 2002 and July 2002 / February 2003, the number of home visits by general practitioners fell by 22.5%, while the agreement of June 5 had set a target of a 5% drop. According to a survey carried out by Credoc in early 2003 at the request of the CNAM, 70% of French people felt that doctors were trying to encourage patients to come to their office for consultation and limit their home visits.
.
