2024-09-19 17:00:19
In an analysis laboratory in Tercis-les-Bains (Landes), March 25, 2024. GAIZKA IROZ / AFP
Medical analysis laboratories are on a war footing. Meeting in an inter-union, representatives of liberal medical biologists, supported by their counterparts in the public sector, called for a national strike this summer, starting on September 20, to protest against the recent reductions in examination fees, decided by the Health Insurance in August.
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Starting Friday, private analysis laboratories, which receive an average of 500,000 patients daily, are asked to close their doors for four days. No examinations or samples will be carried out during this period, except for urgent analyses for hospitalized patients. The mobilization of medical biologists promises to be particularly strong. “All the major groups support the movement. In several regions, all the laboratories will be closed”specifies Jean-Claude Azoulay, president of the National Union of Medical Biologists.
In the sights of health professionals: the new price reductions, which came into effect since September 11, for certain tests, such as the glycated hemoglobin test, commonly used in diagnosing diabetes, the price of which has been reduced by almost 53%, to 2.25 euros. Biologists are protesting against this 120 million euro shortfall, by the end of 2024, intended to contain the runaway spending of Health Insurance on this item.
“The bottleneck is closing too quickly”
This decision is the result of the surge in prescriptions for biological analyses in recent months. The acceleration in requests for examinations, greater than expected by the paying body, threatens to overflow the budget envelope of 3.8 billion euros, planned in 2024 for the coverage of these examinations, the amount of which had been set jointly with the profession, a year earlier, as part of a three-year agreement. Faced with this observation, the general director of the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM), Thomas Fatôme, informed biologists in June of the need to make price adjustments to absorb this strong surge in volumes.
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A blow to the profession, which considers having been cheated when the agreement was concluded in 2023: “At that time, we were assured that this increase in volumes was expected to be between 2.5% and 2.7%. As a precaution, we had accepted price reductions at the beginning of 2024. Suddenly, we are told that this is not enough, because the increase in volumes is ultimately between 5.5% and 6.5%. Obviously, we are angry: the bottleneck is tightening much too quickly.”deplores Mr. Azoulay.
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