The rates for medical consultations will increase by 1.50 euros before the end of the year, i.e. 26.50 euros minimum for general practitioners and 31.50 euros for specialists, according to the “arbitration rules” presented Monday, April 24 to the unions. liberal doctors.
These revaluations, which must still be approved by the Minister of Health, François Braun, will then come into force “at the expiration of a period of six months”, i.e. at the end of October at the earliest, according to this document, of which AFP got a copy.
A cost of 600 million euros in a full year
Two months after the failure of negotiations between doctors and Health Insurance, the senior civil servant Annick Morel, appointed to “arbitrate” this file, therefore chose to resume as is this general increase proposed at the beginning of the year by the Social Security, for a cost of 600 million euros over a full year.
On the other hand, “no revaluation subject to a territorial commitment” was retained. The unions had indeed braced themselves against this second price level (30 euros for general practitioners) reserved for practitioners accepting certain counterparties: taking more patients, doing night shifts, practicing in a medical desert, working on Saturdays Morning…
Financial aid for the recruitment of medical assistants “expanded and relaxed”
The former inspector of social affairs has also fished out several measures dear to the executive.
To “free up medical time”, financial aid for the recruitment of medical assistants will thus be “broadened and made more flexible”. Emmanuel Macron has set a target of 10,000 jobs by the end of 2024, compared to just over 4,300 to date.
Unlike price increases, this decision will apply without delay, as will the creation of a new consultation at 60 euros for the acceptance of a chronic patient without a treating doctor. There too, the Head of State promised that the 700,000 people in this situation would be “offered a doctor before the end of the year”.
No time limit either for the “response to urgent and unscheduled care”. The arbitrator chose to “perpetuate” the incentives intended for liberals who participate in the telephone “regulation” of Samu (100 euros per hour) and to receive patients within 48 hours (increase of 15 euros). Two key points of the “flash mission” that François Braun implemented upon his arrival in the summer of 2022.