Teleconsultation in Ambulatory Care in France

Observational Study of the Use of the Service Giving Access to Teleconsultation in France by Telemedicine Companies

Teleconsultation is a telemedicine medical act carried out remotely via information and communication technologies. This medical procedure has been legal in France since 2010 and reimbursed by the National Health Insurance under certain conditions since 2018. In 2020, following the COVID-19 epidemic, the lockdowns and the extension of the scope of financial coverage, 17 million teleconsultations have been reimbursed.

To date, few scientific studies have been published in France to precisely describe the use of the service giving access to outpatient teleconsultation, in particular since the major increase in activity linked to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The objective is to describe the use of the service giving access to outpatient teleconsultation carried out in France by teleconsultation companies and compare the use of the teleconsultation service according to the medical density of the territory.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patient who used the teleconsultation access service with one of the telemedicine companies member of the LET participating in the study
• Patient residing in France according to the written information (address and or postal code) given at registration to the telemedicine company
• Teleconsultation service used between August 1, 2021 and November 30, 2021
• Teleconsultation service used in the context of outpatient care (hospitals excluded)
• Teleconsultation service used for a teleconsultation with a doctor registered with the Medical Doctors Council in France