Positioning France as a leader in eHealth

As part of the "France Relance" Plan and the Future Investments Programme (PIA 4), the government began its efforts in early 2021 to build the "eHealth" acceleration strategy. The aim of this initiative is to prepare for the future and help make France a global leader in eHealth.
Digital technology is driving a revolution in the health sector. 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 this environment, the actions supported by this acceleration strategy aim to encourage the emergence of innovative solutions, based on multidisciplinary scientific approaches and ambitious cost-effectiveness models, to conquer the eHealth market, which is growing rapidly worldwide.

A public consultation that outlines the initial actions of the strategy

For six weeks, a public consultation was held with players in the ecosystem to specify and guide the eHealth acceleration strategy. The consultation received 429 responses, 52% of which came from companies. This large number of responses testifies to the high expectations of stakeholders as well as their willingness to take part in the construction of the strategy that will be implemented over the next 5 years.
Analysing the responses to this public consultation highlighted four main areas. In the feedback from these players, we note the desire to simplify and facilitate access to the market. The respondents also emphasised the importance of meeting the challenges of funding and trials, as well as the desire to strengthen France's strategic advantage, particularly in the field of AI and the use of health data. Lastly, to ensure optimal acceleration of the sector and to strengthen the confidence of its players, users must be involved in the development stages of digital services whilst also building modules to train players in the challenges of eHealth.
Based on the lessons learned from the public consultation, a series of additional interviews with players representative of the ecosystem will be conducted in the coming weeks.
The finalised eHealth Acceleration Strategy will be unveiled in the summer of 2021.

This vast public consultation allowed the ecosystem to express its expectations and priorities while helping to lay the groundwork for future calls for projects.

• The public consultation was open for 6 weeks and received 429 responses.
• The results of this consultation will make it possible to specify and prioritize the content of the acceleration strategy, and also help lay the groundwork for relevant calls for projects to be deployed quickly.
• The consultation is also informed by the work of the Conseil du Numérique en Santé (CNS) Sector Development working group. A first midpoint review has been carried out and the final report will be published shortly.