The reform aims for equal treatment, but equal access remains a concern. The reality is that rural areas suffer from a striking lack of specialized professionals and suppliers. The 2019 Mobility Law (LOM) attempted to improve transport accessibility, but access to healthcare services and equipment remains a challenge. How can we guarantee quality care and after-sales service for someone living far from major cities? Without specific measures to strengthen the presence of specialists in rural areas, there is a risk of widening the disparities between users in urban areas and those in isolated territories.
Innovation versus Bureaucracy
While the reform promotes innovation, a major challenge remains: the process of evaluating and validating new technologies by competent authorities, such as the High Authority for Health (HAS), is often very long. A wheelchair equipped with a revolutionary new technology can take months, even years, to be listed in the official nomenclature. This delay hinders users’ access to the latest equipment and discourages French companies from designing innovative products, as they know that the market launch will be slow. For a successful reform, these processes should be revised to reconcile the necessary rigor of evaluations with the speed of access to innovation.