NMa reminds supervisory boards in homecare industry of their responsibilities

The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) will remind supervisory boards of homecare providers of their responsibilities with regard to managing compliance with the Dutch Competition Act. These boards play a significant role within organizations, and by reminding them of their responsibilities, the NMa hopes the supervisory boards will take on a more active role in managing compliance with the Dutch Competition Act.

Chairman of the Board of the NMa Pieter Kalbfleisch explains: 'It is crucial that as many managers in the homecare industry as possible are familiar with the rules of the Dutch Competition Act, so as not to unnecessarily restrict competition. Competition acts as an incentive to provide good-quality health care in an efficient way. By restricting competition, taxpayers end up paying too much for no reason.'


The NMa has found that homecare organizations have trouble finding a balance between competing and seeking cooperation within a chain. The NMa wants to point out that cooperation in the care chain in itself is possible without having to violate the Dutch Competition Act. Many forms of cooperation between different disciplines within the care chain that improve health care quality are, in principle, allowed. Such forms of cooperation require coordination. Take, for example, an Alzheimer's patient, who has to deal with a general practitioner, a specialist, an informal caregiver, adult day care, a homecare provider, and often, at some point, a nursing home (or at least the transition towards one). It would help if all these different types of care are coordinated for each patient. And, in fact, the Dutch Competition Act allows this kind of cooperation. However, the Dutch Competition Act draws the line at cooperation where price-fixing, market sharing, client sharing or bid-rigging is involved. Those kinds of agreements are prohibited and are not essential for providing chain care.


The NMa has recently found out that a number of homecare providers have violated the Dutch Competition Act. Four homecare providers have therefore been fined. In 2008 , the NMa already imposed fines on five different homecare providers. These fines were upheld in recent objection proceedings. The fines on these nine homecare providers vary from EUR 314,000 to more than EUR 4 million. These fines involved price-fixing agreements and market sharing, but no cooperation in the care chain.


The NMa wants every homecare provider to implement a compliance policy, which should help undertakings in preventing their employees from violating competition laws. Supervisory boards could play a critical role, the NMa believes, in reminding boards the importance of a compliance policy so that employees know what is or is not allowed. The NMa welcomes plans of trade organizations ActiZ and BTN to help their members implement compliance policies in their own organizations.