Baby Steps to EHRs in France

France has decided to move completely toward electronic health records—and has committed to universal adoption of a “dossier médical personnel” (DMP). But before that can be done, the system has to get to where all bills are submitted electronically. In September, it was announced that a fine of up to 1 euro would be charged for every paper claim. The principle of this fine system was part of the new law: “Hospital, Patients, Santé, Territoires” (HPST), passed last summer.

In 2008, in France, 86% of clinical offices able to transmit claims transmit electronically but insurers received more than 150 million paper claims. Among physicians, nearly 20% of GPs and over 42% of specialists still used paper claims in 2008. The Mutalités (insurance companies) estimate that a paper claims costs over $2.40 to process while an electronic claim costs only 36 cents.

The fine system didn’t get implemented as planned and there are reports that it will happen this coming May and the fine will be only 50 euro cents.