Setting up a foundational strategy
The eHealth Acceleration Strategy aims to make France a leader in eHealth.
Challenges of the French health system
- The French health system is facing major challenges like the ageing of the population, the development of chronic diseases, and scattered resources, requiring reforms to the dated cost-effectiveness model.
- The emergence of new technologies is disrupting all economic sectors. This is particularly true for the health sector, where digital technology is at the heart of the revolution. It also reflects an ambition to come up with an effective response to the challenges of the sector while accelerating the shift towards so-called “5P” medicine: personalised, preventive, predictive, participatory and pragmatic (i.e. evidence-based).
- This transformation of eHealth must be carried out for the benefit of the general population and that of patients. In particular, it is a matter of improving the quality of life, organising care and preventing the worsening of inequalities in access to care due to adding a digital divide to the social divide.
Positioning France as a leader in eHealth
- Globally, the digital transformation of the healthcare sector is accelerating, with the eHealth market expected to grow by about 160% between 2019 and 2023, with a total value of $90bn in 2019 and estimated to reach $235bn in 2023.
- To position itself as an international leader in the sector, France needs to catch up, having been hampered by a lack of investment in digital infrastructure, the complexity of systems created in silos, a lack of acceptability and trust in digital technology by both the general public and professionals, and a shortage of training for health professionals and engineers in health issues.
Accelerating public support for the digital transformation of healthcare
The eHealth Acceleration Strategy is part of a continuum of public investment in the sector. Landmark programs of public support for digital health include the Ministerial Roadmap for eHealth, the digital component of the Ségur de la santé reforms, Paris Santé Campus, and the Grand défi IA & Santé. These synergistic programmes illustrate France's determination to coordinate the sector.