Country’s healthcare system in a nutshell
The Netherlands’ universal social health insurance approach merges public and insurance. All residents are required to purchase statutory health insurance from private insurers, which are required to accept all applicants. Financing is primarily public, through premiums, tax revenues, and government grants. The national government is responsible for setting health care priorities and monitoring access, quality, and costs. Standard benefits include hospital, physician, home nursing, and mental health care, as well as prescription drugs. Adults pay premiums, annual deductibles, and coinsurance or copayments on select services and drugs. The government pays for children’s coverage up to age 18.
The national government has overall responsibility for setting health care priorities; introducing legislative changes when necessary; and monitoring access, quality, and costs in the country’s market-based system.
The municipalities are responsible for overseeing some health care services, including preventive screenings and outpatient long-term services. The Federal Ministry of Health’s role is to safeguard health care from a distance rather than managing it directly.
A number of independent agencies are responsible for setting operational priorities:
At the national level, the Health Council advises the government on evidence-based medicine, health care, public health, and environmental protection.
The Medicines Evaluation Board oversees the efficacy, safety, and quality of medicines.
The National Health Care Institute assesses new technologies for efficacy and cost-effectiveness and advises the Ministry of Health on whether to include those technologies in the mandatory benefit package.
The Dutch Health Care Authority (Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit) has primary responsibility for ensuring that the health insurance, health care purchasing, and care delivery markets all function appropriately.
The Dutch Competition Authority (Autoriteit Consument en Markt) enforces antitrust laws among both insurers and providers.
The Health Care Inspectorate supervises the quality, safety, and accessibility of care. Self-regulation by medical doctors is also an important aspect of the Dutch system.
Health information technology (IT) is not centralized in one body. The Union of Providers for Health Care Communication (Vereniging van Zorgaanbieders voor Zorgcommunicatie) is responsible for the exchange of data via an IT infrastructure
Public vs private
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The national PHR
History
In 2011 there were the first discussions in the country about creating a national Electronic Patient File (EPD), which would have been the same for every patient in the Netherlands and would enable them to see their medical data. This project received no support from the Senate.
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).
MedMij is a foundation, an initiative of the Patiëntenfederatie Nederland (Dutch Patients Federation), which was embraced and founded in 2015 by the Informatieberaad Zorg (Healthcare Information Council), an administrative collaboration between participants in the healthcare sector and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
MedMij is now the standard in the Netherlands for the secure exchange of health data between care users and care 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 a personal health environment of their choice (PHE).
The MedMij label stands for the secure and reliable exchange of health data within MedMij’s stringent parameters the MedMij Framework. This label is available for 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 of an app or website are and whether they fit the situation and needs of a user. This is determined by the users themselves.
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/
Investments
The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) has made significant investments in the digitalization of healthcare in recent years. One of the key initiatives is the Dutch Health Information Council, which oversees the National Health Information Exchange Infrastructure (VIPP) program. This program has received substantial funding aimed at enhancing digital information exchange across healthcare providers to improve patient care and efficiency.
The VWS has allocated hundreds of millions of euros towards various digital health initiatives.
The total was €900mln. The VIPP program itself received an initial investment of 400 million euros, targeting improvements in hospital information systems, patient access to their medical records, and inter-organizational data exchange. For hospitals (VIPP 1) € 105 mln. For GP's € 75 mln.
Additionally, the government has set aside €75mln for AI in healthcare and digital innovation, focusing on areas such as telehealth, digital diagnostics, and personalized medicine. These investments are part of a broader strategy to modernize the healthcare system, making it more resilient and efficient by leveraging technology.
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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