France: regional profile for digital health innovators

Are you a UK-based health innovator looking to explore international markets? The Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London and its DigitalHealth.London programmes are supporting innovators considering international expansion. Find out about our new expert-led webinar series, and scroll to the bottom of this page to watch our webinar focused on France.

Why France?

France is an attractive European market for UK-based digital health innovators because it combines:

• A large and well-funded universal health system;
• A clear national digital health strategy with strong infrastructure; and
• An increasingly mature reimbursement pathways for digital solutions.

The French government has spent the past decade modernising its health system through major reforms. This includes Ma Santé 2022 and the Ségur du numérique en santé, both of which position innovation and digital tools as essential to improving access, coordination and quality of care.

France faces similar pressures to the UK: an ageing population, rising chronic disease and workforce shortages. These challenges are driving demand for telemedicine, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence (AI) enabled diagnostics, and tools that support integrated care.

France is also one of the few European countries to have introduced national, permanent reimbursement mechanisms for digital health. This shift means that remote monitoring solutions for conditions such as heart failure, diabetes, and respiratory disease can now be reimbursed by Assurance Maladie (the national compulsory social health insurance). Defined national tariffs create a predictable and scalable route to market for digital health companies.

For UK innovators, France’s combination of market scale, structured governance, and national reimbursement mechanisms for digital health creates a favourable environment for evidence generation, partnerships, and commercialisation.

Country profile

Population: approx. 68.4 million (2024).

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: EUR ~€43,000 (2024 estimate).

Healthcare spending as proportion of GDP: 11.5% (2023).

Economic growth: 1.2% (2024).

Total annual health expenditure: approx. EUR €325 billion (≈£284 billion).

Healthcare market dynamic

France operates a universal social health insurance system, providing coverage to almost all residents through the national health insurance scheme. The system combines public financing with private provision of care and complementary insurance.

The Ministry of Health provides national leadership for health policy, while Assurance Maladie manages the national health insurance system and reimburses healthcare services. At the regional level, Regional Health Agencies (ARS) coordinate health planning, prevention, and service delivery across France’s regions.

Key organisations involved in the digital health ecosystem include:

• Ministry of Health (Ministère de la Santé)
  • Responsible for national health policy and system oversight.
• Assurance Maladie
  • France’s national health insurance body, which reimburses healthcare services and increasingly supports digital care pathways.
• Délégation au numérique en santé (DNS)
  • The national authority responsible for digital health strategy, interoperability frameworks and innovation programmes.
• Agence du Numérique en Santé (ANS)
  • The agency responsible for implementing digital health infrastructure and standards.
• Regional Health Agencies (ARS)
  • 18 regional bodies that coordinate healthcare delivery and public health programmes across the country.

Digital innovation landscape

France has developed a national digital health infrastructure designed to support interoperability, patient access to data, and the integration of digital services. One of the core components is Mon espace santé, a national record platform that allows citizens to store and share health information online such as prescriptions, test results and clinical reports. The platform already covers most of the population through automatically created accounts linked to the national health insurance system.

Alongside this, the French government has invested heavily in digital health modernisation through programmes such as Ségur du numérique en santé, a €2 billion initiative designed to accelerate digitalisation of health records, interoperability, and secure data exchange across healthcare providers.

France is also developing a national ecosystem for health data and AI research. Initiatives such as the Health Data Hub aim to enable secure access to large-scale health datasets for research and innovation, while new national strategies focus on the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence in healthcare.

Regulatory pathways

Digital health technologies in France operate within the broader European regulatory framework for medical devices. Software that meets the definition of a medical device must comply with the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and obtain CE marking before entering the market.

At the national level, health policy and digital health standards are coordinated by the Délégation au numérique en santé, while the Agence du Numérique en Santé develops interoperability frameworks and certification standards for digital health systems.

France has also introduced mechanisms to accelerate adoption of innovative digital health solutions. For example, the PECAN programme allows temporary reimbursement for digital therapeutic medical devices and remote monitoring technologies while further evidence is generated.

Data governance, privacy and cyber security

Health data governance in France is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) alongside national oversight by the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL), the country’s data protection authority.

Digital health services must comply with strict requirements around health data hosting and security. Health data generally must be hosted by providers certified for Hébergement de Données de Santé (HDS), a national certification ensuring high standards for security and privacy.

National platforms such as the Health Data Hub provide regulated access to anonymised health datasets for research and innovation projects, while maintaining strict governance and ethical oversight of data use.

Infrastructure readiness

The Mon espace santé platform provides a centralised digital health record for citizens. Interoperability frameworks developed by the national digital health agencies aim to ensure that healthcare software used by hospitals, clinics, and digital service providers can connect with these national platforms. This infrastructure creates opportunities for innovators whose products can integrate with national data services and health information systems.

Cultural and adoptions factors

France has a strong culture of public healthcare provision and national coordination, which means that innovations often scale through structured national programmes rather than fragmented local adoption. For innovators, partnerships with national agencies, regional health authorities or large hospital groups are often key to gaining traction.

Patient engagement with digital health tools is increasing but remains uneven. National platforms such as Mon espace santé have achieved wide population coverage through automatic account creation, though active usage is still developing as patients and professionals adapt to new digital services.

Funding and support

France has introduced several major funding programmes designed to accelerate health innovation and digital transformation. The France 2030 investment programme includes €7.5 billion dedicated to healthcare innovation, supporting research, digital health technologies, and advanced medical technologies.

France also participates actively in European innovation funding schemes such as Horizon Europe, which support cross-border research and digital health innovation projects involving public and private sector partners.

Opportunities for UK innovators

• Developing or localising solutions for chronic disease management, ageing populations, and integrated care pathways.
• Supporting the deployment of AI-enabled clinical tools, telemonitoring, and remote patient monitoring, particularly where solutions can integrate with national data platforms.
• Leveraging national investment programmes, such as France 2030, and digital health infrastructure initiatives to support deployment and validation of innovative solutions.

Webinar recording

This webinar provides an introduction to the French health care system, including the Paris Region Digital Health Ecosystem, and an overview of the support available to UK companies in France.