Online medical records relaunch on phone app
An online medical records system which has had a low take-up has been relaunched with a phone app in the hope that 40 million patients will be using it in five years’ time.
The DMP (dossier médical partagé) is now more user-friendly. Instead of asking a doctor to set it up, you do it yourself, though help is available from a pharmacist, doctor, or health authority (Cpam). Pharmacies are being given €1 per dossier that they help set up.
Lack of enthusiasm from doctors, who found previous versions too time-consuming to use, was partly blamed for the low up-take.
It was previously on offer only in certain trial regions, but the latest version has been made available nationwide via website www.dmp.fr.
The DMP is free and optional, and only you and professionals to whom you give access may consult and add to it. You can hide items, track additions or changes and, if you wish, close it – or reactivate it.
It can contain hospital and X-ray notes, doctors’ notes from consultations, blood tests, allergies, important medical procedures undertaken, and medicines prescribed and delivered.
Cpams will add details of the last two years of reimbursements and patients can add to it with photos or any other documents about their health – for example, by scanning paper documents they would normally keep in a file at home.
Patients who have a DMP can have a sticker on their carte vitale and they will be able to consult it via an app on phones. The app will also notify them when a document is added. Doctors will still be able to make personal notes but the DMP will make it simpler for key health details to be shared between professionals.
This ties in with aims to make more use of “telemedicine” technology.
Patients will be able to see the whole of their DMP, but the government says that medical professionals will only be able to see the parts relevant to them – for example, a doctor will see it all, but a dietician or optician would not. Administrative staff will not be able to see medical information, and work and insurance company doctors will not have access at all.
This topic and much more is covered in our 64-page 2019 Healthcare in France helpguide, priced €12.50. To order, click here or call 0033 (0)6 40 55 71 63
