The Haut conseil pour l’avenir de l’Assurance maladie (Hcaam) assesses the state of France’s healthcare sector and presents its recommendations.
Last November, the Hcaam published five documents to shed light on the mechanisms of healthcare investment and its regulation, including an international section, a portrait of operations in France, a perspective on the French situation and, lastly, a compendium of lessons learned from theoretical and empirical economic research on the regulation of healthcare investment.
In his view, hospital investment in France is not lagging behind that of other OECD countries, and the drop in investment between 2010 and 2020 is merely a rebalancing of a particularly substantial financial effort between 2005 and 2015.
The High Council also notes that there is no asset inventory to objectively assess equipment and its state of disrepair, which makes it difficult to prioritize operations. He also believes that the ecological transition will require an inventory of the building stock, characterizing construction methods, insulation and heating systems, as well as energy performance and consumption. It proposes to include criteria relating to the functionality of the premises in terms of care (room equipment, safety and fluid management issues, suitability for patient flows, etc.).
Finally, the Hcaam notes a time asymmetry between planning documents and investment programming. In his view, a longer-term vision would be more appropriate to ensure the coherence of projects, while taking into account forecasts of economic, social and ecological developments. In his view, this will enable us to check that the projects undertaken are helping to guarantee equal access to care.
