Country’s healthcare system in a nutshell

The Netherlands’ universal social health insurance approach merges public and insurance. All residents are required to purchase In the Netherlands, the health care system combines public funding with private insurance. Every resident must obtain statutory health insurance from private insurers, which who are required mandated to accept all applicants. Financing is primarily public, through premiums, tax revenuesThe system is mainly funded through public sources, including premiums, taxes, and government grants. The national government is responsible for setting sets health care priorities and monitoring oversees access, quality, and costs. Standard benefits include encompass hospital care, physician services, home nursing, and mental health care, as well as and prescription drugsmedications. Adults pay are responsible for paying premiums, annual deductibles, and coinsurance or copayments on select for certain services and drugs. The government pays for children’s coverage up to age 18, while the government covers health care costs for children up to 18 years of age.

The national government has overall responsibility for setting is in charge of establishing health care priorities; introducing , implementing legislative changes when necessary; and monitoring access, quality, and costs in the country’s needed, and overseeing the market-based system.The municipalities are responsible for overseeing some health care services, including 's access, quality, and cost aspects.

Municipalities handle specific health services, such as preventive screenings and outpatient long-term services. The care, while the Federal Ministry of Health’s role is to safeguard health care from a distance Health takes a regulatory role rather than managing it health care directly.

A number of independent agencies are responsible for setting Several independent bodies set operational priorities:

• At the national level, the The Health Council advises provides guidance to the government on evidence-based medicine, health care, public health, and environmental protection.

• The Medicines Evaluation Board oversees ensures the efficacy, safety, and quality of medicines.

• The National Health Care Institute assesses evaluates new technologies for efficacy effectiveness and cost -effectiveness and advises the Ministry of Health on whether to include those technologies on their inclusion in the mandatory benefit package.

• The Dutch Health Care Authority (Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit) has primary responsibility for ensuring that the oversees the functioning of health insurance, health care purchasing, and care delivery markets all function appropriately.

• The Dutch Competition Authority (Autoriteit Consument en Markt) enforces antitrust enforces competition laws among both insurers and providers.

• The Health Care Inspectorate supervises monitors the quality, safety, and accessibility of care. Self-regulation by medical doctors professionals is also an important aspect a key element of the Dutch system.

Health information technology (IT) is not

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centralised. The Union of Providers for Health Care Communication

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manages the data exchange through IT infrastructure.

(Tikkanen et al., 2020)

Public vs private

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The national PHR

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Afterward, the Dutch Patient Federation came up with another way to give people control over their medical data, i.e. MedMij and the personal health environment (PHE) (PGO.nl, 2023)

The MedMij is a foundation , an initiative of the Patiëntenfederatie Nederland (Dutch Patients Federation), which was embraced and founded was established in 2015 by the Informatieberaad Zorg (Healthcare Information Council), an administrative collaboration between participants in a collaborative body comprising various stakeholders from the healthcare sector and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. MedMij is now the standard in the Netherlands for the secure exchange This initiative by the Patiëntenfederatie Nederland (Dutch Patients Federation), aims to set standards for the secure exchange of health data in the Netherlands.

Currently, MedMij represents the benchmark for the secure transmission of health data between care users patients and care healthcare providers. Anyone who is certified and meets MedMij’s criteria is allowed to use the MedMij label.Medmij ensures that anyone who wishes so has access to their health data in Organisations that meet the stringent criteria set by MedMij are authorised to use its label. This certification ensures that individuals can access their health data through a personal health environment of their choice (PHE) of their choosing. The MedMij label stands for the secure and reliable exchange of health data within MedMij’s stringent parameters denotes adherence to the standards outlined in the MedMij Framework. This label is available for It is awarded to apps, websites, or personal health environments (PHE - platform which allows patients to manage their medical data and share it with others ) that demonstrably meet the criteria of MedMij. The label is also visible at locations of healthcare providers or other healthcare professionals who exchange information through the MedMij network.The MedMij label says nothing about how useful or handy the functions PHEs that meet these requirements and is also displayed at healthcare providers' locations that participate in the MedMij network. However, it is important to note that while the label guarantees secure data exchange, it does not provide information on the functionality or user-friendliness of these tools. The suitability and effectiveness of an app or website are and whether they fit the situation and needs of a user. This is for individual needs are determined by the users themselves, who can choose which one to use.(MedMij, 2023)

At the moment, there are 13 PHEs that meet MedMij standards and that patients can choose from. An updated list is available at this link: https://medmij.nl/medmij-deelnemers/

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Overall, the VWS's efforts reflect a growing commitment to integrating digital solutions within the healthcare sector, aiming at higher efficiency and population health management.

Bibiography

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/countries/netherlands

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Bibliography

MedMij, 2023. About MedMij [online] Available at: https://medmij.nl/en/home/ [Accessed 2 November 2023].

MedMij, 2023. MedMij participants [online] Available at: https://medmij.nl/medmij-deelnemers/ [Accessed 2 November 2023].

PGO, 2023. What is a PGO? [online] Available at: https://www.pgo.nl/wat-is-medmij/een-pgo/ [Accessed 2 November 2023].

Tikkanen, R., Osborn, R., Mossialos, E., Djordjevic, A. and Wharton, G.A., 2020. International Health Policy Center: Netherlands. The Commonwealth Fund. Available at: https://medmijwww.commonwealthfund.nl/medmij-deelnemers/org/international-health-policy-center/countries/netherlands (Accessed: 2 November 2023)