Medical consultation price: the government believes it has made "a lot of effort"
Health Minister François Braun at the Corbeil-Essonnes hospital on January 6, 2023. AP - Ludovic Marin
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The government has made "
a lot of effort
" in negotiating consultation rates with the unions of liberal doctors, to whom the Minister of Health, François Braun, asked, this Thursday, February 23, to "take a
step
" .
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"
The government has made a lot of effort since the start of these negotiations
", he declared on France 2. "
I ask the doctors to take a step towards us
", because "
we have taken several steps" towards them , he said.
"Everyone has to move forward
."
Six unions of liberal doctors and the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam) meet this afternoon for a final session of negotiations on the prices of consultations and the remuneration of practitioners for the next 5 years.
The Cnam proposes an increase of 1.5 euros for consultations, which amounts to a basic consultation with the general practitioner at 26.5 euros.
It offers a higher revaluation - 30 euros for the basic consultation of general practitioners - for doctors who agree to commit for more time in contact with patients, and thus fight against difficulties in access to care.
Beneficiary doctors must, for example, reach a minimum level of patients or employ a medical assistant.
They must also commit to combinations of criteria such as participation in on-call duty, opening on Saturday mornings, a minimum number of attendance per year, exercise in nursing homes or in areas that suffer from low attendance. medical... The unions reject for the moment the principle of the conditional increase of the consultation.
Doctors consider it "
humiliating and infantilizing
" to have to make these commitments, said Thursday morning to AFP Doctor Luc Duquesnel, who represents general practitioners within the CSMF union.
"
The approximately 40% of general practitioners who already meet these criteria will refuse to sign this contract
" for this reason, he explained.
"
You have to rely on GPs without forcing them to tick boxes like
'I will work 220 days a year'
or
'I will be open 35 Saturdays a year'," he said.
If an agreement has not been signed on Tuesday, February 28, the drafting of the agreement will be entrusted to an arbitrator, Annick Morel, former general inspector of social affairs.
According to the Cnam, the revaluation of 1.5 euros for consultations represents “
on average an annual increase of 7,000 euros in fees
” for general practitioners.
►Also read: France: liberal doctors on the street to "save general medicine"
(
With
AFP)
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