[French physicians in independent practice: opinions on their conditions of work and the issue of over/under staffing of medical workforce in their areas].

In France, ambulatory care is provided to patients mostly by independent physicians, GPs and specialists, paid on a fee-for-service basis. A national agreement between the Sickness Insurance Fund and the medical associations sets the price of different medical services. Due to the numerus clausus imposed upon the medical schools since the 70's, the yearly number of new graduates has sharply decreased and a feeling of manpower shortage has spread throughout the health system, in the public hospitals and the ambulatory care sector as well. Moreover increased dissatisfaction has been perceived among independent practitioners (they were 56 % of all the medical profession in early 2004). In this context, an opinion survey was undertaken among a sample of 3000 independent doctors whose one thousand have answered to the postal questionnaire.