Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Organization of Healthcare in France

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which began spreading on January 24, 2020 in France, has required a profound and rapid reorganization of the health system, based in particular on internal hospital reorganizations of front-line establishments, deprogramming of non-urgent activities, and transfers of non-covid19 patients to 2nd line facilities. Beyond the immediate impact on the management of patients infected with COVID-19, this reorganization may have reduced the capacity of management for patients requiring urgent or semi-urgent intervention, or may have postponed some necessary care. The isolation of patients at home may also have resulted in lower compliance to therapy and medical treatments and may have contributed to decompensation. At the end of this crisis, the different organizational responses in France should be evaluated to identify the consequences and the areas for improvement in order to be prepared for future exceptional health situations. This investigation on healthcare systems confronted to an exceptional health situation thus seeks to determine if the profound reorganizations implemented during this health crisis have indirect effects on the performance of care, in particular if there is a destabilization of the care systems (emergency, semi-emergency and chronic), a loss of chance for the patients and if innovative care paths have emerged.