France extends public pilot of digital health insurance card

France's digital health insurance card application on a smartphone
HEALTH PILOT: Users download the ApCV app to create a digital version of their Carte Vitale health card

Residents of eight French departments will soon be able to verify their identity when accessing healthcare services and claim reimbursement for medical fees by scanning a digital version of their Carte Vitale health insurance card stored on their smartphone with an NFC reader or presenting a QR code to service providers.

Users will be able to create the digital card by downloading the French government’s ApCV app, photographing their government-issued identity card or passport and confirming their identity with a video selfie using biometric face recognition technology.

The pilot service has already gone live in the Rhône and Alpes-Maritimes departments and is due to roll out in Seine-Maritime, Puy-de-Dôme, Loire-Atlantique, Saône-et-Loire, Sarthe and the Lower Rhine “soon”, according to French news outlet 24 Matins.

News that the French government plans to launch the digital Carte Vitale across the whole country in 2023 and had begun testing the ApCV app emerged in August.

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