The two healthcare regulators will be scrutinizing new chains of general practitioners. The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) and the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) want to know whether the care there meets ‘the standards for the quality and accessibility of care that apply to all general practitioners’. The study should be completed before the summer holidays.
At the GP chains, people more often have online appointments. They can share their complaints with their GP via video calls. The inspectorates say that such ‘innovative care concepts are important to guarantee the future-proofness of general practitioner care’. The Netherlands has a shortage of general practitioners, while there is more demand for them because the population is aging. However, there is a risk that ‘the quality, availability and accessibility of care’ will come under pressure for the newcomers, according to IGJ and NZa.
The regulators do not disclose which chains are being investigated. In recent years, several GP practices have been taken over by companies. One of these is Arts en Zorg, a chain with 23 branches in The Hague, Utrecht, Groningen, Enschede, Arnhem, Amersfoort, Zaandam, Delft, Leeuwarden, Rijswijk, Berkel en Rodenrijs, Winschoten and Wezep.
Co-Med has thirteen branches in Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda, Enschede, Zwolle, Helmond, Hollands Kroon, Oirschot and Reusel. Bee the Inspectorate has been investigating for some time to that chain, which has been active since 2019 and offers more than 50,000 patients general practitioner care. The Irish company Centric Health, active in the Netherlands since 2019, has eight practices in Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Woerden. Last weekend, the IGJ reported that it was conducting a separate investigation into Centric Health.
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