Article

The development of European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) physical and
rehabilitation medicine programmes of care (PRMPC) and physical and
rehabilitation medicine care pathways (PRMCP) in France is a good example of the
positive interaction between European and national organizations. PRMPC were
defined at the European level to offer a robust template for the description and
assessment of physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) clinical activity in
various fields and contexts. An accreditation procedure was organized as a peer
review. It has started to provide very informative documents. In France,
discussions on this topic began in 2000. At the end of the same decade, the
European approach fostered the interest of French PRM organizations in a period
of negotiating with public authorities about two crucial issues: specifications
required for reimbursement of functional instrumental assessments in PRM practice
and funding of PRM care in postacute facilities. The French Society of PRM
(SOFMER) decided to describe the PRM scope in a systematic way, emphasizing the
best balance between patient needs, rehabilitation goals, relevant means and
justified funding. Nine 'PRMCP' have been published since 2010 and others are in
progress. PRMPC and PRMCP share the same concern about the best response offered
by PRM to patients' needs. The first approach is the description of a local
organization with respect to both scientific evidence and local conditions. The
latter is an outline of PRM intervention related to a multidimensional pattern of
patients' situations. Both enhance the role of PRM doctors, whose expertise is
necessary for making a synthesis of medical diagnosis and functional assessment,
for setting up a patient-centred care strategy and for supervising the
rehabilitation team's intervention.

Langue : ANGLAIS