Healthcare provider Take Care from Almelo will stop working in Hoogeveen. According to the municipality, the consequences for the customers are not great. The residents of Hoogeveen who received help from the provider have been housed elsewhere since October.
Take Care was discredited two years ago. The company is involved in lawsuits because claims in Overijssel have been tampered with. Health insurer Menzis and the municipality of Almelo accused the company of fraud. At the beginning of this year, the court ruled that Take Care must repay 1.3 million euros to Menzis. The municipality of Almelo also hopes to get money back.
Take Care also came under a magnifying glass in Drenthe. There were, for example, questions about the quality of care that was provided.
It is remarkable that the municipality of Hoogeveen did not hear the news about the termination of the work from Take Care itself. This was done through another healthcare organization.
“That party wanted to take over the care for clients from Take Care and apparently already knew it,” a spokesperson said. “We therefore contacted Take Care ourselves in mid-October. It was then confirmed that they were going to stop. We do not know whether there is a bankruptcy.” Take Care itself could not be reached for comment.
Four people in Hoogeveen used the services of the care company. According to the municipality, the consequences for these residents are minor. “It is not the case that we work with just one care provider. The choice for another aid organization was made in close consultation with these people,” said the spokesperson. The municipality does not want to say which care provider the Hoogeveen clients are currently with.
In addition to the suspicion of declaring healthcare costs not incurred, the company’s healthcare also fell short. Talks with clients and the now deceased director Vartan Arjekian showed that there were not enough qualified personnel in 2019. There would also be few appropriate and client-oriented support plans and not enough work was done on achieving and evaluating results, according to an earlier study by the municipality of Almelo.
Because Hoogeveen did business with Take Care, the municipality launched an investigation into the care provider two years ago. The Wmo supervisors of the cooperation organization De Wolden Hoogeveen made an unannounced inspection visit. From this it became clear that the company did not meet the preconditions for the provision of care or that it did not meet the preconditions. There was no privacy policy and medication and calamity protocol. Care records and care plans were also found to be absent.
That is why an improvement program was set up. A new unannounced inspection followed in July 2020. This showed that Take Care had made improvements in all areas. That was enough for the municipality of Hoogeveen to extend the current contract at the time.
In Drenthe, De Wolden also had a contract with Take Care. This is because the municipality is part of the cooperative organization with Hoogeveen. However, no one in the congregation received help from the company.
The municipality of Meppel also did business with the care company. “There have been no residents who have used this,” said a spokesperson. “Take Care has never submitted invoices to the municipality of Meppel, so there is no need to investigate claims.”
The Municipality of Hoogeveen will carry out this investigation in the near future. It is not yet clear when the investigation will be completed.