Projects awarded under the 2026 round of the Efficiency Research program in the Netherlands

The Efficiency Research program of the Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) is intended to develop socially relevant and high-quality knowledge about the effectiveness and costs of innovative and existing non-pharmaceutical diagnostic and therapeutic interventions within the basic insurance package or long-term care. 

The following types of projects are eligible for the Efficiency Research program:

• The project provides knowledge about the effectiveness and costs of non-pharmacological interventions;
• The project is a comparison of intervention with standard care;
• The project concerns comparative research into interventions with proven safety and plausible efficacy.

In July 2025, 12 projects were awarded subsidies from the 2026 open round of the Efficiency Research program, including projects in e-health, diagnostic imaging, gastrointestinal, endoscopy, orthopedics, gynecology, pulmonology, and cardiology areas.

Examples of the awarded projects include:

• Cost-effectiveness of denervation of osteoarthritis of the thumb basal joint;
• Comparison of endoscopic versus surgical local excision of early-stage rectal cancer;
• The (cost) effectiveness of a digital health application for chronic pelvic pain;
• Cost-effectiveness of a hysterectomy for resistant endometriosis-related complaints.

The subsidy within this round is intended to research which treatment method gives the best results and at what cost. The projects will start by the end of 2025 at the latest.

See more information in Dutch here.

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