The Supplementary Healthcare and Welfare Agreement (AZWA) has been signed in the Netherlands

On September 8, 2025, healthcare organizations and the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport signed the Supplementary Healthcare and Welfare Agreement (Aanvullend Zorg—en Welzijnsakkoord, AZWA). The Dutch Healthcare Institute also actively contributed to its development. The goal of this agreement is, among other things, to maintain high-quality care and support and to provide accessible and affordable care in the Netherlands. 

The agreement contributes to two goals: reducing the staff shortage by 100,000 people by 2028 and ensuring equal access to care. The document includes commitments to accelerate the achievement of these goals and cover five different topics: 

• Less administration, more time for care. By 2030, healthcare providers will spend less time on administration. The goal is a maximum of 20 percent of working time. Furthermore, healthcare providers will now more easily share patient data digitally. Additional funding will be allocated to projects that reduce regulations and paperwork;
• Better deployment of staff and technology. The parties promote labor-saving medical technology, ranging from simple and inexpensive tools to the innovative use of AI. Additional funding will go towards training employees. Prevention measures will be supported if they effectively prevent the need for healthcare;
• More equal access to care. A national helpdesk for questions about digital care is being established. Healthcare providers will be improving information about waiting lists. Healthcare providers are starting to discuss patients’ wishes at an earlier stage in their final years;
• Collaboration on availability. Medical specialist institutions will work together in networks and will connect their offer to the healthcare demand through the regional plans. General practitioners will work with a fixed patient population as standard. Insurers invest additional funds in regions where people often can't find a general practitioner. The continuity of on-call services (including emergency services) in every region will be provided;
• Appropriate care. This topic includes improving patients' access to existing medicines, providing reliable information about the quality of healthcare providers, sharing best practices for appropriate care, and preventing, detecting, stopping, and punishing healthcare fraud. 

See more information in Dutch here and here.

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