Netherlands

The report includes an overview of funding framework and all (as of May 2019) decisions from ultimate payers and decisions makers in England (NHS England, one CCG), Germany (G-BA), Netherlands (Zorginstituut Nederland), Norway (“New Methods” framework) and Switzerland (Federal Office of Public Health). More than 1000 decisions are included.

On the 14th of March of 2019, the Dutch National Health Care Institute has opened a project submission period in a framework of subsidy scheme called “Promising care.” This scheme makes it possible to obtain temporary financing for a maximum of 6 years for those treatment methods that look promising but are not yet reimbursed from the basic package. The period for submitting project ideas for promising care is from March 14 to May 14, 2019.

The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) wants to contribute to stimulating the right care in the right place by making it possible to deploy e-health applications more broadly. In 2019 NZa will examine the possibilities for declaring e-health with the focus on district nursing and long-term care. Also, a large part of the e-health projects is in the pilot phase and the Dutch ‘Care for Innovation’ organization developed a step-by-step plan for a systematic approach for e-health introduction.

At the beginning of February of 2019, the National Healthcare Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland, ZIN) has published an Overview of the healthcare activities which were excluded or included with restrictions into Basic Insurance Package.

Promising care must find its way to patients more quickly through inclusion in the basic health insurance. That is why the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has adjusted the promising care with the new subsidy scheme. Dutch Healthcare Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland, ZIN) carries out the scheme in collaboration with the Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development (Nederlandse organisatie voor gezondheidsonderzoek en zorginnovatie, ZonMw). The scheme will replace existing procedure with conditional reimbursement of medical technologies.

Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) has released key features of the DRG package for 2020, including complex chronic lung failure, stem cell transplant care and indexation of DRG tariffs.

At the end of September of 2018, the National Healthcare Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland, ZIN) has published an Overview of the healthcare activities, which were excluded or included with restrictions into Basic Insurance Package.

The Dutch Healthcare Authority advises to reward health care providers in specialist medical care on the basis of the health benefits for the patient.

Adding the MammaPrint® to the standard risk assessment in patients with early-stage breast cancer has not demonstrated health gains compared to the current way of determining whether a patient needs chemotherapy. Dutch National Health Care Institute has concluded that the test is not eligible for reimbursement from the basic insurance package.

The Innovation Credit focuses on the development of promising and challenging innovations with an excellent market perspective. This may involve the technical development of a new product or process or the clinical development of a drug or device. For technical development projects, there is still sample budget available and applications can be submitted.

In 2019 the regulation for “conditional reimbursement to the basic insurance” (Voorwaardelijke toelating tot het basispakket) will be replaced by the Subsidy Scheme for Promising Care. The goal is to make promising treatments, medical technologies, tools and medicines available for patients even faster. The Dutch Healthcare Institute is preparing for the implementation of the new subsidy scheme in the coming months.

At the end of April, 2018, the National Healthcare Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland, ZIN) has published an Overview of the healthcare activities, which were excluded or included with restrictions into Basic Insurance Package.