2024-04-21 13:45:06
Tribunes in the press, forums on the Internet, round tables and professional journals which devote dozens of pages to the subject. Since 2022, the world of radiology has only this word on its lips: “financialization” of career. And the abuses it could cause.
The stakes are such that a collective of radiologists, called Corail (for Collective for independent and free radiology), was set up the same year to encourage young graduates to think about the imaging network in which they will commit their lives professional. “We tell them not to start at random and to fully understand what the different models available to them involve: working within an independent imaging network, controlled by the doctors who practice there, or within a group led by financiers”, explains Paul-Gydéon Ritvo, one of the founders of the collective.
The recent offensive by investment funds – which are increasing their stakes in the sector – has given rise to fears within liberal radiology, relayed by its powerful union, the National Federation of Physician Radiologists. “The movement started in 2016comments its president, Jean-Philippe Masson, but it goes quickly. Today, 15% to 20% of imaging firms are in the hands of financial players, with professionals who lose control of their work tools. We must stop this evolution, we do not want to end up like the biologists. » Private medical biology has in fact experienced an unprecedented transformation between 2010 and 2020, marked by massive takeovers of laboratories by financial groups, to the point that independents today represent only 25% of the sector.
Radiologists aren’t the only ones worried. The subject also mobilizes liberal medicine as a whole, as well as policies and public authorities: in its “charges and products” report of July 2023, Health Insurance does not hide its concern; the Senate launched an information mission on the issue in March, with recommendations expected by the summer; and the general management of care provision is in the process of setting up a task force to better understand the phenomenon.
A solvent and secure sector
If the subject causes so much excitement, it is not because private money is interfering in the health system. Provision of care and public and private financing have coexisted for a long time in France, and this principle is accepted as long as capital remains stable and the independence of health professionals is guaranteed. “What raises questions is that these are strictly financial players for whom health is a speculative product, which must feed shareholders”, deplores the senator (Socialist, environmentalist and republican group) from Paris and general practitioner Bernard Jomier, co-rapporteur of the mission to the Senate, who sees “a leak of our contributions outside the healthcare system”.
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