Healthcare managers and health insurers see Value Based Healthcare and bundled payments as the way forward for healthcare in the Netherlands. The three main areas of attention in this are: (1) leading the change, (2) breaching the budget silos, and (3) ensuring upscaling and standardisation. These are the conclusions from the recently released white paper ‘Bundled Effort to Implement Bundled Payments’.
On Wednesday 4 April, Stichting Digitalezorg.nl and consultancy agency Vintura, together with ABN Amro and VitalHealth, held the ‘Implementation of VBHC and bundled payments’ strategy evening. Around thirty management and VBHC experts from healthcare providers, health insurers and the industry discussed with special guest Harvard Professor Robert S. Kaplan what would be necessary to accelerate the implementation of bundled payment (care cycle financing) in the Netherlands. The conclusions from this evening are described in the white paper titled ‘Bundled Effort to Implement Bundled Payments’. Of the attendees, 93% saw bundled payments as the way forward for healthcare in the Netherlands.
Bundled payments are a method of financing healthcare by focusing specifically on the outcome of a full care cycle for a specific medical condition. The strategy evening revealed that the attendees view bundled payments as a promising concept, but complex to organise. The method requires changes to the system and a collective responsibility on the part of healthcare providers, health insurers, the government and industry.
Initiator Martijn Claus, from Stichting Digitalezorg.nl: ‘I believe that VBHC can really change our healthcare, but it must be accompanied by a change in the way we provide financing. This financing must be set up in such a way that it actually stimulates all parties involved to increase patient value and reduce healthcare costs.’ The aim of the organisers, Digitalezorg.nl, Vintura, ABN Amro and VitalHealth, is to pool their knowledge and experience to help accelerate the implementation of VBHC in the Netherlands.
Want to read more? Download our white paper about ‘bundled payments’ (in Dutch).
