To reach or leave the hospital by ambulance or taxi, patients now called upon to share their transport could see their journey extended by up to 30 km, according to a draft decree which worries associations but which remains, according to the ministry, to finalize.
In its current form, the draft decree on the sharing of medical transport, revealed Friday by franceinfo and of which AFP had a copy, provides for a detour of 10 kilometers possible per passenger transport, within the limit of a total detour of 30 km per trip. As for the wait for the departure of the medical vehicle, the text mentions a reasonable period (…).
The draft decree aims to apply a measure of the 2024 Social Security financing law. It is in the consultation phase, and is still being discussed, the Minister of Health is told. The threshold of 30 km, for example, appears in the project, but is not necessarily what will be retained.
Patient associations are concerned about the impact of these changes, particularly for patients who must be treated with dialysis or chemotherapy.
A patient will no longer be able to refuse shared medical transport.
The Renaloo association, which represents patients affected by kidney disease, dialyzed or transplanted, wrote to the minister and Health Insurance to demand that neither the waiting times nor the delays linked to this new organization of transport can lead to a deterioration of the quality, continuity and duration of care.
She wants travel and waiting times to also be taken into account. Another concern of patient representatives: no obligation to wear a mask and barrier gestures is planned.
The government, in search of several billion savings in the Social Security budget (PLFSS 2024), has planned that a patient will no longer be able to refuse shared medical transport if it is medically possible, under penalty of having to advance the costs and being reimbursed only on the basis of shared transport.
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