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France achieves 20% of EHR target

France has reached eight million electronic health records (EHR) records created, one year after the Government relaunched the country's EHR system after years of neglect. In the last year, France's EHR, the DMP, has jumped from two million users to eight million. The figure represents 20 percent of the target the Government has set itself to achieve by 2022.

At present, a DMP record must be opened with the permission of the subject, who must be over the age of 16. As a result, progress in expanding the use of the DMP is dependent on persuading members of the public to subscribe to the system. Records can be opened at health insurance offices, pharmacies, or by healthcare professionals.

The DMP was originally launched in 2011 after seven years of development and at a cost of €200 million. However the public reception was lukewarm at the outset, and only 50,000 records were opened. The DMP had been beset by years of public and legal controversy over privacy and individual rights.

The project was quietly abandoned. The election of the Macron Government in May 2017 resurrected the programme, and it was officially relaunched by health minister Agnès Buzyn on November 6, 2018.

The DMP provides a subset of a patient's hospital reports, test results, major surgical procedures, and prescribed medications, that can be read and updated by different healthcare professionals. It complements EMR systems such as hospital information systems and medical practice management systems.

The French Government has set a target of 40 million records to be opened by 2022. It is pursuing an active public relations campaign in regional and local press to encourage members of the public to open a DMP. A law passed in July 2019 removes the element of choice for anyone born after June 2021, with DMP records opened automatically.

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