LSHC Horizons Brochure 2024 - Flipbook - Page 56
Hogan Lovells | 2024 Life Sciences and Health Care Horizons | Hospitals and Health Care Providers
56
2023 Health care reforms in France: Stricter regulations for health centers
Concerns about health care center oversight
and economic models have grown, following
several sanitary scandals. While the French
Public Health Code already placed limits on
governance and profit distribution, aiming to
prevent lucrative arrangements with private
companies, a new law adopted on 19 May
2023 has sought to address these concerns.
The law, limited to health centers with dental,
ophthalmological or orthoptic activities:
• provides for restrictions on health center
directors with direct or indirect interests in
private companies providing paid services
to the management structure, in order to
prevent conflicts of interests;
• implements a mandatory prior approval by
the Regional Health Agency (Agence régionale
de santé - ARS) for health centers or their
branches engaging in dental, ophthalmological
and orthoptic activities. Existing centers must
obtain approval within six months. However,
the scope of the law is limited to these specific
activities, exempting others from approval
requirements. An inspection visit can then be
carried out by the ARS to verify compliance
with applicable regulations within the year of
the grant of the approval;
Mikael Salmela
Partner
Paris
• includes the submission of employment
contracts of dental surgeons, dental
assistants, ophthalmologists and orthoptists
to the ARS and the competent professional
boards. The professional boards must give an
opinion on these documents;
• establishes a medical or dental committee
composed of health care professionals
practicing activities in the center, with
the aim of ensuring the quality, safety and
relevance of the care provided in the center;
• provides for new prerogatives for the general
director of the ARS, including the ability
to refuse approvals for structures and the
receipt of certified accounts from health
center managers;
• inserts a prohibition on demanding full
payment for care before it has been provided
for all health centers, regardless of their
specialties;
Several implementing decrees are still awaited
to be published to complete some of the new
applicable requirements. The complete applicable
framework should be in force during 2024 and
will require several organizational adaptations
for existing health centers to comply with these
new requirements. This regulation also makes it
mandatory for investors interested in structures
involving health centers to conduct thorough due
diligences on how these structures are organized
and the agreements in place among different
stakeholders. This regulation also reflects a trend
in the sector regarding private investments,
indicating a more cautious stance by authorities
on the structuring of such projects and the entry
of private investors into the health care sector.
While the sector presents attractive return on
investments, these can only be realized in strict
compliance with applicable regulations.
• an increase in the penalties applicable to
health care centers by the ARS when they
detect breaches of their regulatory and
legislative obligations.
Joséphine Pour
Senior Associate
Paris
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