No training is required to carry out a prevention check-up: French National Health Insurance (Assurance Maladie) states this for each participating profession. Optional online modules, freely accessible after registering on formation.bilan-prevention.ehesp.fr, cover motivational interviewing, brief interventions and the priorities for each age group; the official tools on ameli, the French National Health Insurance website, complete the preparation.
We all learned prevention at medical school as a body of knowledge: which screenings, which vaccines, which thresholds. The prevention check-up (Mon bilan prévention, France’s national prevention check-up program) asks for something else: leading, in 30 to 45 minutes, a conversation that results in one or two goals chosen by the patient. It is a skill of approach more than of knowledge, and that is what the resources presented here work on. This page takes stock of what exists, what is confirmed and what remains to be checked.
Do you need training to carry out a prevention check-up?
No. The ameli.fr page for each profession — doctor, nurse, pharmacist, midwife — contains the same sentence: “No additional training is required in order to carry out these check-ups as a participating professional.” The decree of May 28, 2024 on participating professionals, content and pricing of prevention appointments does not set any training requirement either. Signing up for the program on sante.fr with a CPS or e-CPS card (the French health professional card) is enough to be listed in the directory and to bill the check-up, under the rules summarized in prevention check-up billing and coding.
So why train? Because the check-up is not just another consultation. Its three steps — identifying risks based on the self-assessment questionnaire, jointly prioritizing one or two topics, writing the Personalized Prevention Plan (PPP) — require letting the patient choose what they want to act on, which runs counter to the reflex of going through the list of recommendations. In our experience, and as colleagues trained in motivational interviewing report, the check-up becomes more concise and patients are more committed to the plan.
What does the EHESP platform formation.bilan-prevention.ehesp.fr offer?
The platform is published by the EHESP (École des hautes études en santé publique, the French School of Public Health) and funded by the ministry in charge of health through the Directorate General for Health (DGS). According to the school’s presentation page, it is “freely accessible through self-registration”: creating an account is enough, and registered professionals “take the e-learning modules at their own pace.”
Content
The EHESP describes “video content, interactive materials, quick-reference sheets, reference texts,” organized “in the form of training modules.” The platform had nine modules at the time we consulted it.
| Module (summarized title) | What it works on | Most useful for |
|---|---|---|
| Overview of the program | Framework, age groups, three steps, billing, transmission | Any participating professional getting started |
| Conducting the check-up | Motivational interviewing techniques, steps of the prevention consultation | Everyone, especially those trained in the “top-down” consultation style |
| Referring patients | Prevention resources, care pathways, sante.fr map | Participating professionals who are not the regular doctor |
| Vulnerabilities | Identifying situations of precarity, isolation, limited access to the health system | Pharmacists, nurses, health centers |
| Sexual health | Contraception, STIs, HPV vaccination, raising the topic | Midwives, professionals seeing 18- to 25-year-olds |
| 18-25 · 45-50 · 60-65 · 70-75 | Priorities and tools specific to each age group | Depending on the patient population |
What we could not confirm
The EHESP page does not specify module length or whether a certificate is issued at the end of the course. Nor does it mention funding under continuing professional development (DPC). What we note on the same page: “nurses are the most numerous to have registered,” while “doctors are less keen on the resource center.”
What are motivational interviewing and brief intervention, and why are they at the heart of the check-up?
Motivational interviewing is a person-centered conversational style that explores the person’s ambivalence about a change and strengthens their own motivation, rather than arguing on their behalf. Brief intervention is a short, structured exchange that, after identifying a risky consumption or behavior, delivers personalized information and suggests a feasible action. Both meet the constraints of the check-up: little time, one or two topics, a plan the patient will own.
Motivational interviewing in practice
Described by psychologists William Miller and Stephen Rollnick, motivational interviewing rests on a few simple techniques: open questions, affirming what the person is already doing, reflecting back what they say, summarizing before moving to action. Applied to the second step of the check-up, it changes the question asked: no longer “you should quit smoking,” but “of the things you checked, what worries you most, and what would you be willing to try?” The priority that emerges is not always the one we would have chosen; it is often the condition for the Personalized Prevention Plan to be followed. The content of this plan is described in the Personalized Prevention Plan.
Brief intervention in practice
Early identification and brief intervention are recommended for alcohol and tobacco by the health authorities (the French National Authority for Health, HAS, and Santé publique France, the national public health agency). In the check-up, the self-assessment questionnaire does the identification; brief intervention consists of reporting the result without judgment, linking the behavior to what matters to the person, and suggesting a modest goal and a resource — helpline, dedicated consultation, nicotine replacement — written into the PPP. The EHESP “conducting the check-up” module and ameli’s topic sheets on tobacco and alcohol provide the framework.
What other official resources are there: ameli topic sheets, booklet, self-assessment questionnaires?
French National Health Insurance and sante.fr provide, without registration, all the materials needed for the check-up: an overview booklet, topic sheets by subject, self-assessment questionnaires by age group, risk-screening support forms, Personalized Prevention Plan templates and a map of prevention resources. No specific software is required.
| Resource | Use in training | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Mon bilan prévention booklet | Read through the program from start to finish before the first check-up | Professional section of ameli.fr |
| Topic sheets (diet, physical activity, tobacco, alcohol, sleep, mental health, sexual health, menopause, screenings, vaccination, etc.) | Up-to-date guidance by topic, the basis for brief interventions | ameli.fr and sante.fr |
| Self-assessment questionnaires by age group | Get familiar with what the patient will have filled in | Mon espace santé (online) or PDF on ameli.fr |
| Risk-screening support forms | Practice structuring the consultation | Professional section of ameli.fr |
| PPP templates by age group | Write a concrete plan, with deadlines and resources | Professional section of ameli.fr |
| Map of prevention resources | Know the local services to include in the PPP | sante.fr |
| ICOPE apps (60 and over) | Assess intrinsic capacity: mobility, cognition, hearing, vision, mood, nutrition | Mentioned on the ameli.fr nurse page |
How the self-assessment questionnaire, the centerpiece of risk identification, works is explained in the prevention check-up questionnaire. The program’s terms — PPP, self-assessment questionnaire, motivational interviewing, organized screening program — are defined in the prevention glossary.
How can a team train: CPTS, multi-professional health center, health center?
The prevention check-up benefits from being organized collectively: several participating professionals in the same area, a regular doctor receiving the plans, local resources to know about. Team training is less about taking a course together than about building a shared protocol and keeping it alive.
A shared protocol
Who offers the check-up, at what point in the care pathway, in which time slot; how the self-assessment questionnaire is sent beforehand; which PPP template is used; through which channel — secure health messaging, shared medical record (DMP) — the plan is sent to the regular doctor (médecin traitant); how to avoid duplicates within the same age group. These written answers are worth a training course, and they should be reviewed after the first check-ups.
The role of the CPTS
The prevention mission of CPTSs (local health professional networks — communautés professionnelles territoriales de santé) can support this organization: practice-sharing meetings between participating professionals, an inventory of local resources to include in plans, tracking the number of check-ups by age group and profession. We describe this framework in the CPTS and prevention mission guide and on the Sokrate for CPTSs page.
Health centers and multi-professional health centers
In a health center, the nurse often carries out the check-up and the doctor receives the PPP; useful training focuses on dividing roles and following up on goals in consultation. This organization is described in the prevention check-up carried out by the nurse and on the Sokrate for health centers page. Continuing education providers also offer sessions dedicated to the prevention check-up, in person or remotely; their content and any funding should be checked case by case.
What key skills make a prevention check-up successful?
Six skills sum up what the check-up requires, and what the resources above help develop.
- Reading a self-assessment questionnaire in a few minutes and picking out the two or three key points, without going over everything.
- Prioritizing with the patient, through motivational interviewing, one or two topics they are ready to act on — and accepting that it may not be the most “serious” one in our eyes.
- Knowing the current recommendations on organized screening programs, vaccinations and consumption guidelines, attributing them to their source (French National Authority for Health, French National Health Insurance, vaccination schedule) and checking their date.
- Knowing local resources: specialist consultations, smoking and addiction cessation support, adapted physical activity, psychological support, social services — the sante.fr map is the starting point.
- Writing a concrete Personalized Prevention Plan, with dated actions and a named resource, and giving it to the patient.
- Sharing and coordinating: sending the PPP and the risk-screening form to the regular doctor, unless the patient objects, and knowing how to pick up a plan written by another professional.
Should training differ by profession?
The foundation is the same, but the effort focuses on different points depending on the practice. For doctors, it is mainly about approach: moving from giving advice to supported choice, and resisting the temptation to turn the check-up into a full medical check-up, as we explain in the prevention check-up carried out by the doctor. For nurses and pharmacists, the challenge is knowledge of screenings and vaccinations and sending the plan to the regular doctor, covered in the prevention check-up at the pharmacy. For midwives, it is the sexual health module and coordination with gynecological follow-up, described in the prevention check-up by midwives. For physiotherapists, announced as participating professionals from October 2026, the question of training will arise in the same terms; we discuss it in the prevention check-up by physiotherapists.
Key takeaways
- No training is required to carry out and bill the prevention check-up; signing up on sante.fr is enough.
- The EHESP platform formation.bilan-prevention.ehesp.fr is free through self-registration: videos, quick-reference sheets, modules by age group, motivational interviewing, sexual health, vulnerabilities. Length and certificate not specified.
- The key skills are about approach: reading the self-assessment questionnaire, prioritizing with the patient, writing a concrete PPP, sending it to the regular doctor.
- The ameli tools (booklet, topic sheets, self-assessment questionnaires, risk-screening forms, PPP templates) and the sante.fr map are available without registration.
- Training as a team means writing a shared protocol; the prevention mission of CPTSs can support it.
How to organize this pathway with Sokrate
The Sokrate service lets patients prepare their prevention check-up in advance, with an adaptive online questionnaire whose structured summary reaches the professional before the appointment: the risk identification is done, and the consultation can focus on prioritization and the plan. The plan is signed by a doctor, a letter is sent to the regular doctor unless the patient objects, and a coordinating nurse follows up on referrals. How it works is described on the Sokrate for doctors, Sokrate for health centers and Sokrate for CPTSs pages; the program’s general framework is summarized in the prevention check-up.