French law: what about a reasoned reimbursement of serum vitamin D assays?

Abstract

The number of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) assays has increased tenfold in France in less than 10 years, sometimes for invalidated reasons. In 2013, the French National Authority for Health (Haute autorité de santé, or HAS) limited the indications for serum 25OHD measurements to rickets/osteomalacia, older adults with recurrent falls, monitoring of kidney transplant in adults, and surgical treatment of obesity in adults. Our aim here was to note that other indications for serum 25OHD measurements are supported by previous literature and by a number of national and international recommendations, in particular the following: any situation of bone fragility, any chronic renal failure <45 mL/min/1.73m2, any situation of malabsorption, clinical signs consistent with vitamin D deficiency or vitamin D overload, and calcium phosphorus evaluation. We suggest that the measurement of serum 25OHD concentration should remain reimbursed as part of these extended indications.

• Authors: Jean-Claude Souberbielle, Claude Laurent Benhamou, Bernard Cortet, Mickael Rousière, Christian Roux, Vered Abitbol, Cédric Annweiler, Maurice Audran, Justine Bacchetta, Pierre Bataille, Olivier Beauchet, Rémi Bardet, Alexandra Benachi, Francis Berenbaum, Hubert Blain, Françoise Borson-Chazot, Véronique Breuil, Karine Briot, Philippe Brunet, Jean-Claude Carel, Philippe Caron, Olivier Chabre, Philippe Chanson, Roland Chapurlat, Pierre Cochat, Régis Coutant, Sophie Christin-Maitre, Martine Cohen-Solal, Christian Combe, Catherine Cormier, Marie Courbebaisse, Grégory Debrus, Brigitte Delemer, Georges Deschenes, Marc Duquenne, Guillaume Duval, Patrice Fardellone, Denis Fouque, Gérard Friedlander, Jean-Bernard Gauvain, Lionel Groussin, Pascal Guggenbuhl, Pascal Houillier, Thierry Hannedouche, William Jacot, Rose-Marie Javier, Guillaume Jean, Claude Jeandel, Dominique Joly, Peter Kamenicky, Bertrand Knebelmann, Marie-Hélène Lafage-Proust, Yves LeBouc, Erick Legrand, Florence Levy-Weil, Agnès Linglart, Laurent Machet, Emmanuel Maheu, Eric Mallet, Christian Marcelli, Pierre Marès, Christophe Mariat, Gérard Maruani, Yves Maugars, France Montagnon, Bruno Moulin, Philippe Orcel, Henri Partouche, Virginie Personne, Charles Pierrot-Deseilligny, Michel Polak, Claire Pouteil-Noble, Dominique Prié, Agathe Raynaud-Simon, Yves Rolland, Jean-Louis Sadoul, Bernard Salle, Corinne Sault, Anne-Marie Schott, Isabelle Sermet-Gaudelus, Martin Soubrier, Ivan Tack, Eric Thervet, Isabelle Tostivint, Philippe Touraine, Florence Tremollières, Pablo Urena-Torres, Jean-Paul Viard, Jean-Louis Wemeau, Georges Weryha, Norbert Winer, Jacques Young, Thierry Thomas
• Journal: Geriatrie et psychologie neuropsychiatrie du vieillissement (Geriatr Psychol Neuropsychiatr Vieil) Vol. 14 Issue 4 Pg. 377-382 (Dec 01 2016) ISSN: 2115-7863 [Electronic] France
• Vernacular Title: Législation française : quid d’un remboursement raisonné du dosage de vitamine D ?
• PMID: 27818369 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Hydroxycholecalciferols
• Vitamin D

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Female
• France
• Hematologic Tests (economics)
• Humans
• Hydroxycholecalciferols (blood)
• Insurance, Health, Reimbursement (legislation & jurisprudence)
• Legislation, Medical (trends)
• Male
• Vitamin D (blood)