The agreement should mark a date. Dentists signed, Friday, July 21, a new agreement with Medicare. The contractual negotiation, which takes place every five years to define the rules, in particular tariffs, surrounding the exercise of dental surgeons, resulted in the signature of the two main representative unions – the Federation of Liberal Dental Unions (FSDL) and Les Chirurgiens-dentistes de France (CDF). A first. “We have reached a broad consensus”rejoiced the boss of Medicare, Thomas Fatôme, whose remarks also concern the financiers, the text having been initialed by the complementary organizations.
“This agreement has a strong focus on prevention, as we have been defending for thirty years, with the ambition of moving towards a ‘cavity-free’ generation”greets Doctor Patrick Solera, at the head of the FSDL, who had not signed the last convention, in 2018, nor the previous one, and of which 72% of the representatives this time approved the text.
Children, teenagers and young adults from 3 to 24 years old will now have access to a dental examination – at an increased rate – fully paid for each year, compared to every three years so far. For this generation, care “conservatives” (those aimed at preserving the tooth) will also be increased by 30% for dental surgeons. This should make it possible to avoid then “the use of prosthetic and implant procedures throughout their adult lives”can we read in the agreement.
For the population as a whole, the prices of conservative care will also be increased by 4%, when several acts aimed at vulnerable populations will be upgraded, or even created, such as an oral check-up on entry into a residential establishment for dependent elderly people.
This “preventive turn” represents the bulk of the envelope put on the table, evaluated at 613 million euros for the period 2023-2028: 383 million euros invested by Health Insurance, and 230 million by complementary organizations.
A hundred cities in “non-priority” areas
Adjustments to the “100% health” system – flagship measure of the previous agreement which limits the “outstanding charge” for access to prosthetic care – are also included in the text for an envelope of 160 million euros, in particular the coverage of new prostheses.
It is however another measure which should mark a small revolution in the medical world: refused a few weeks earlier by the national representation during the examination of the bill on medical deserts of the deputy (Horizons) of Seine-et-Marne Frédéric Valletoux in the National Assembly, the regulation at the installation will now apply to some 35,700 dental surgeons. A coercion which had, until now, never been decided for a liberal medical profession, although it already exists for other health professionals, such as nurses or physiotherapists.
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