According to a recent decree, schools of osteopathy will have to comply with stricter rules to obtain their approval. On the program, more teaching hours.
Let’s face it, it was a bit of anarchy! Schools of osteopathy are multiplying in France, without any real regulation. There is indeed an official approval, but the criteria for obtaining it are not very strict. It is therefore not easy to know if an osteopath has received good training.
However, a decree which has just been signed should make it possible to clean up a bit. 24 specific quality criteria must be met if a school wishes to be approved by the Ministry of Health. And this will notably involve studies over 5 years, with teachers having at least 5 years of experience.
Patrick feval, president of the national union for higher education in osteopathy: ” This new training will include 4,860 hours of teaching, 150 consultations and 1,500 hours of clinical training, with more precise pedagogical supervision. “
Currently, there are around 20,000 osteopaths in France. Half of them are health professionals (8,000 physiotherapists, 1,800 doctors, a few nurses, chiropodists or even midwives), who have completed their course with osteopathic training.
The other half have taken initial osteopathy training in one of the 30 schools in France. The number of these non-healthcare osteopaths continues to increase. 7-8 years ago, they were less than a thousand, whereas today they are almost 10,000.
However, according to a report by the Igas of 2012, the teaching of osteopaths falls short in terms of quality and quantity. Same observation of Patrick Feval, who estimates that only half of osteopaths are well trained.
Hence this new decree, which should be finalized in mid-October. But what worries health professionals is that non-health professionals have the same access as them. This would have the consequence of making the choice of its practitioner less readable.
Dr Jean-François Rey, president of the Union of Health Professionals (UNPS): ” After validation of their training, with this decree, non-professionals want to be recognized as health professionals and for us this is not acceptable “
On the other hand, whether the prescriber is a health professional or not, this does not change the reimbursement, since osteopathy is not reimbursed by social security, but only by mutual funds.
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