Overview
- Assurance Maladie reported a 32% increase in liberal general practitioner installations in 2025, rising to 2,810 from 2,130 the year before.
- The rebound was concentrated in underserved 'zones d'intervention prioritaires', where 891 GPs set up practice in 2025, an increase of about 45% year on year.
- Officials attribute the change partly to a multi-year lag after a marked expansion of medical school places earlier in the decade, which is now feeding more new doctors into practice.
- Organizational access also improved with SAS coverage reaching 98.5% of the population and a 20% rise in signed contracts for medical assistants, expanding team-based primary care.
- At the same time fewer doctors joined the Optam fee-limiting scheme in 2025, a drop that raises concerns about financial access for patients and has become a live issue in pending Senate debates over location and fee rules.