Smart card provider Axalto has been chosen to supply at least eight million personalized Vitale 2 cards to the French population starting in 2007 as part of an upgrade of the country’s current health card. Designed to simplify the administrative process for healthcare reimbursement, the card cuts down on paperwork, speeds up the reimbursement process and, with the latest iteration, will be more user-friendly and secure.
Amsterdam/Paris–Axalto, the world’s leading provider of microprocessor cards, has been selected by GIE Sesam Vitale as one of its primary suppliers for the next generation of health insurance cards, Vitale 2.
The contract covers an initial period of two years, and can be renewed twice for periods of one year. Axalto will supply at least eight million cards, making the company one of the central players in France’s move to renew the 53 million Vitale 1 cards currently in circulation.
The Vitale card is designed to simplify the administrative process for healthcare reimbursement in France. It eliminates paperwork, enables transactions to be conducted with a high degree of security and speeds up the reimbursement process. The Vitale 2 card will offer these capabilities together with new specificities that will make the card more user-friendly and make data management even more secure.
“Axalto has been a key partner of the French healthcare industry since the Vitale 1 card and the Health Professionals’ Card were rolled out in 1998. At the time, France was the first country in the world to implement such a convenient, sophisticated healthcare management system, and Axalto is a primary supplier of GIE Sesam Vitale. With Vitale 2, Axalto is proud to be involved once again in modernizing the French healthcare system - one that is envied by many nations worldwide,” commented Philippe Cambriel, president EMEA, Axalto.
About Axalto
Axalto is the world’s leading provider of microprocessor cards (Gartner 2005) - the key to digital networks - and a major supplier of point-of-sale terminals. Its 4500 employees come from over 60 nationalities and serve customers in more than 100 countries, with worldwide sales exceeding 3 billion smart cards to date. The company has 25 years’ experience in smart card innovation and leads its industry in security technology and open systems. Axalto continuously creates new generations of products for use in a variety of applications in the telecommunications, finance, retail, transport, entertainment, healthcare, personal identification, information technology and public sector markets. Microprocessor cards provide convenience, security and privacy to public and private services operators, their customers and end users. For more info, please visit www.axalto.com. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/secureidnews-4.gif)
