MAINTENANCE – The prescription for physical activity to prevent disease comes into effect on March 1. But the law does not provide the means to reimburse an adapted exercise.
From 1er March, doctors will be able to prescribe sports. It is on this date that the law to modernize the health system comes into force. A long-awaited development, because the benefits of an adapted physical activity in the prevention or treatment of diseases are well identified. But this February 22, The world publishes a forum that shower the collective enthusiasm.
Jean-Marc Descotes, co-founder of the CAMI – Sport et Cancer association, deplores the lack of resources allocated to doctors and public services. Active for 17 years in the associative field, the man denounces the immobility of the Ministry of Health, which “signals a halt to the entire sector of” sport-health “. “
In fact, the decree does not specify the methods of care or the structures capable of organizing the appropriate physical activity. The disappointment is all the stronger as the association participated in the drafting of this law and wiped the plaster. Why actor returns with him on the adventure.
Who is the prescription for physical activity aimed at?
Jean-Marc Descotes : Today prescription sport is open to everyone. In the spirit of the law, it will be aimed at people who are likely to develop chronic diseases or who already suffer from them. There will normally be a medical prescription. People will meet with a doctor – general practitioner or specialist – who will take stock of the situation. Depending on the pathology, he is supposed to establish a functional assessment, according to which he will prescribe physical activity to people.
Listen to the full interview with Jean-Marc Descotes:
What should the decree have specified to facilitate implementation?
Jean-Marc Descotes : The implementing decree gave the illusion that it would bring physical and sports activity (APS) into the field of health. But he did not provide the means. Today, there are no conditions for reimbursement or funding of these activities by the institutions. Once again, the associations and the people involved will have the obligation to fend for themselves to find the means of their sustainability.
To improve the situation, it is not complicated: it suffices to register the reimbursement of APS in the law of social security. This does not mean 100% coverage by Social Security. Complementary diets have a role to play, and some are already tackling the subject head on. In any case, this will require redefining the skills, the intervention criteria, the concepts of security and evaluation of the projects that will be implemented. Without this, we will never have an evaluation of the efficiency of future projects.
Precisely, can other initiatives serve as an example?
Jean-Marc Descotes : There are two types of structures set up for “sport-health”. First of all, there are “prescription sport” cities, where a dynamic has been put in place in the cities to encourage general practitioners to prescribe APS, and to offer associations which direct towards other structures. It is an interesting project because it offers traceability and patient follow-up. There is a lot of prevention and stabilization of chronic disease.
Other associations, like ours, intervene in the field of therapy. They take care of the pain and ailments associated with the treatment of cancer disease. It would not be very complicated to take inspiration from that, to validate it and to provide the means to duplicate it.
>> Read our long format: Sport in the hospital: reconciling with your body
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