Telemedicine consultations for patients suffering from chronic and / or complex wounds will be tested in nine pilot regions in France.
No more long waiting times for specialists. The 2014 Social Security financing law made it possible to launch telemedicine experiments in nine French regions. Patients suffering from bedsores, leg ulcers or diabetic foot wounds will thus be able to benefit from specific medical expertise thanks to digital technologies. The General Directorate of Healthcare (DGOS) announced this full-scale test in a press release published on April 22 on its website.
Nine regions concerned
Alsace, Lower Normandy, Burgundy, Center, Upper Normandy, Languedoc-Roussillon, Martinique, Pays-de-la-Loire and Picardy are the nine pilot regions chosen to experiment with this device.
Concretely, patients residing or followed by a health professional who practices in one of the regions, will be able to benefit from a teleconsultation carried out from a medico-social structure or a coordinated exercise structure (home or health center) connected to a remote structure. At the end of the tele-expertise, a specialist will be able to give his opinion to the non-expert doctor who requests it.
Improve access to healthcare
The objectives of the DGOS mainly aim to “facilitate access to the supply of care within a reasonable timeframe, but also to reduce patient travel and compensate for any waivers of care”. Improving the organization of care and support in the areas concerned by this experiment are also the goals of this test.
In these nine regions, the DGOS is planning several hundred acts to be carried out. This system will be evaluated, throughout the experiment, by the authorities who will then decide whether or not to generalize telemedicine. As stated in Ministry of Health, article 78 of the law “Hospitals, patients, health, territories” (HSPT), of July 21, 2009, recognized telemedicine as a remote medical practice mobilizing information and communication technologies (ICT) .
Last February, the ministry and the Interassociative Health Collective (Ciss), which brings together patient and user associations, launched a campaign aimed at the general public to publicize this new medical practice.
According to the latest census from the Ministry of Health, there are more than 330 telemedicine projects in France, of which just under 200 are actually operational. More than three quarters of the projects concern teleconsultation or tele-expertise. The most supported pathologies are heart and kidney failure, but also stroke and chronic wounds.
The question that arises today is to know what will be the cost for the patient and what will be the real benefits for the funds of the health insurance.
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