Consultation document drawn up by NMa and NZa on cooperation in health care groups

The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) and the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) are inviting health care groups, health care insurance companies, patients' organizations, industry organizations, and independent experts to give their comments on the consultation document on cooperation in health care groups, which the NMa and the NZa have jointly drawn up. Both authorities regularly receive indications that market parties often have a hard time understanding what is allowed under competition law, regarding cooperation between primary-care providers.

The NMa and the NZa have therefore drawn up a document explaining in what ways competition regulations, as laid down in the Dutch Competition Act (Mw) and the Dutch Healthcare Market Regulation Act (Wmg), are applicable to health care groups. The document also includes a number of specific questions in order to find out what other issues remain unclear to interested parties. Everyone is therefore invited to give a written reaction to the consultation document. The NMa and NZa are also organizing a consultation meeting in which they will be presenting their guidelines, and in which interested parties will have the opportunity to ask questions and to indicate what other issues remain unclear.

Health care groups are organizations composed of primary-care providers with whom health care insurance companies sign contracts in order to coordinate and provide chronic-illness care (for illnesses such as diabetes, COPD and heart failure) in a certain region to improve health care quality. Both authorities are aware of the fact that the market in which these health care groups are active is currently undergoing a transition, a process in which parties are still figuring out what their roles exactly are. It is important that health care is provided in an integrated and coordinated way, and that the various multidisciplinary players in the health care provision chain forge cooperative relationships with each other. However, it is equally important that the boundaries that the Mw and Wmg set are respected.

The document containing the consultation questions can be found here (in Dutch). Reactions can be sent to acm-post [at] acm [punt] nl (acm-post[at]acm[dot]nl) until February 1st, 2010.