App-based carte Vitale trial in France extends to 12 departments

Trials of an app-based carte Vitale are being extended to cover 12 departments, with plans to roll it out across France from next year.

The app, called apCV, works with smartphones and tablets and contains all the information in the classic green carte Vitale which is used to show your healthcare rights.

Instead of handing over the card at a medical appointment or pharmacy, patients open the phone app and place it on a reader, which initiates the necessary steps for reimbursement.

The aim is to make transactions more efficient, avoid the need to update cards, and sidestep the use of the brown paper feuille de soins, which has to be filled in and posted if a patient forgets their card.

The app was introduced in 2019 in Alpes-Maritimes and Rhône. From October, it will also be used in Saône-et-Loire, Seine-Maritime, Bas-Rhin, Nord, Gironde, Hérault, Loire- Atlantique, Sarthe, Puy-de- Dôme and Paris.

Potential participants will be contacted via email if their doctor or other health service has signed up to the scheme.

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