Teleconsultation cabins: a response to France’s healthcare access crisis?

The article analyzes the implementation of the teleconsultation cabins in spaces accessible to the public in France from 2018 to March 2025. The cabins are connected devices located in places generally not dedicated to providing healthcare consultations and treatments, enabling residents to receive such services from medical professionals through connected devices. These devices, developed by private companies, were identified and promoted by the French government as part of its French Tech policy. As such, they were presented as a tool to fight against medical desertification. This study compares this promise with the reality of its implementation. A spatial analysis is proposed, based on a database of all 6105 cases already installed in France, collected specifically for the study, showing that the new teleconsultation facilities appear primarily in territories already relatively well-equipped with access to medical care and less frequently directly in response to medical desertification. The study also shows that what mainly determines the location of these devices is the prior presence of pharmacies on the territory. The article concludes with three proposed scenarios on future development of teleconsultation cabins in public places in France.