Teleconsultation, conducive to abusive work stoppages? This is what emerges implicitly in the Social Security financing bill. (PLFSS) for 2024 presented on September 27 in the Council of Ministers and which plans to limit work stoppages prescribed by teleconsultation to three days, except when they are done by the attending physician. The project also requires using a video or telephone exchange and not simply chat or SMS to deliver a judgment.
Officially, it is a public health measure aimed at guaranteeing the quality of care. But, judging by recent statements from the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, and officials of the National Sickness Leave Fund (CNAM), this measure also aims to stem the sharp increase in the number of sick leave. (+7.9% in 2022) which would be more easily obtained by teleconsultation.
Or because employees increase the number of meetings on the platforms until they come across a complacent or gullible practitioner. Or because the doctor, having fewer elements to establish his diagnosis, for safety reasons more easily grants a stay to the remote patient who complains of being ill.
Control of teleconsultation platforms
Medef says it is of course in favor of a “better supervision of the sick leave system via teleconsultation”. Agnès Giannotti, president of the union of general practitioners MG France, is pleased that “the authorities are finally becoming aware of the need to put in place safeguards against the growth of teleconsultation platforms”.
But Jocelyne Cabanal, national secretary responsible for health issues at the CFDT, is more critical. She considers that this measure “stigmatizes employees even though access to a treating doctor can be complicated. Better to strengthen control of teleconsultation platforms”.
Medadom, Livi or Qare are the names of the platforms which have taken the lead on this point. On Livi, a patient obtains at best five days of sick leave following a teleconsultation. Reducing this delay does not hinder the platform knowing that “90% of the judgments issued are already less than or equal to three days”specifies its medical director Nicolas Leblanc.
Medadom prides itself on applying the rule of three days of maximum downtime since 2019. This provision has been included in its medical charter in the same way as the ban on patients requesting two appointments on the same day on the platform. shape. “We took a position on various sensitive subjects to head off any controversy,” explains Medadom co-founder Nathaniel Bern.
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