Netherlands Health System Overview
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“Many people actively use the internet as a source of healthcare information, but they are not familiar with the online services that their doctors are offering (for example, e-consultations or e-appointments). Doctors in the Netherlands are doing well in international comparisons when it comes to the use of electronic healthcare records and healthcare information exchange (Krijgsman, Peeters & Burghouts., 2015).
“All GPs in the Netherlands use an electronic GP information system to record medical data about their patients. The information system is used to manage the care process and for administration purposes. GP information systems are linked to the professional guidelines, which GPs can consult during a patient contact. To optimize the prescription of pharmaceuticals, the Electronic Prescription System (Elektronisch Voorschrijf Systeem, EVS) is integrated into the GP information system. The EVS provides GPs with advice on pharmacotherapy and related patient counselling. The introduction of the EVS has improved the quality of prescriptions and the use of electronic medical records and has resulted in a reduction of expenditure on medicines. Since the beginning of 2014 prescribers of medicines may only do so by using an Electronic Prescription System that includes a functionality to monitor unsafe situations.”
Source: Kroneman M, Boerma W, van den Berg M, Groenewegen P, de Jong J, van Ginneken E (2016). The Netherlands: health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2016; 18(2):1–239.
“A national roll-out of the Electronic Patient Record (Electronisch Patiënten Dossier, EPD) failed after vigorous debate and opposition. The national EPD was not meant to be a central database of patient data, but rather an infrastructure for care providers drawing from local databases of individual healthcare providers. It aimed to reduce the likelihood of medical errors resulting from lack of information, especially in out-of-hours care. Many GPs resisted a central exchange of patient data because they feared unqualified access to the information. Eventually the roll-out was blocked in the Senate because the privacy of patients was insufficiently guaranteed. Currently more pragmatic new initiatives seek to exchange patient data in a more feasible way. A new system called Care Infrastructure (Zorginfrastructuur), which is the new name for EPD, allows care providers to exchange information on patients and the use of pharmaceuticals on a voluntary basis. GPs, pharmacists and medical specialists may only exchange data from patients who have explicitly given consent. It should be noted that the current system does not allow patients access to their medical data. Since 2012, the Association of Care Providers for Care Communication (Vereniging van Zorgaanbieders voor Zorgcommunicatie, VZVZ) has been responsible for Care Infrastructure (https://www.vzvz.nl/).”
Source: Kroneman M, Boerma W, van den Berg M, Groenewegen P, de Jong J, van Ginneken E (2016). The Netherlands: health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2016; 18(2):1–239.
“The Netherlands does not have a centralised electronic health records system, and many different providers offer electronic health record systems that lack interoperability. An organisation facilitates access to patient medical records in the case of emergency care. Normally, this requires acquiring an explicit written consent from patients in their place of residence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients were transferred to different regions, and asking for consent was not always possible, so temporary guidance permitted GPs to share patient data with other providers without prior consent. Privacy protection organisations considered this a controversial measure, as they are concerned that third parties could have access to the data besides the treating physician. This conversation is likely to continue in the context of the European Health Data Space, which is designed promote better exchange and access to different types of health data to support health care delivery and health research and policy making (European Commission, 2021b).”
OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), The Netherlands: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
“In July 2014, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport set three objectives to be achieved by 2019: a) guaranteeing direct access to medical information to 80 % of chronic patients; b) allowing 75 % of chronic patients and frail older people to independently perform self-measurements, in combination with remote data monitoring by a health care professional; and c) enabling everyone who receives care at home to communicate with their health care provider via video calls. So far, progress is mixed, but noteworthy initiatives include: eHealth4All, a programme aimed at people with low health literacy; a programme for diabetes patients with the aim to promote self-management capacity; and eMental Health, which promotes the use of e-consultations, e-appointments and e-intakes in mental care, and which is currently used by two out of three mental health care institutions.”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2019), The Netherlands: Country Health Profile 2019, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
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Page last updated Nov. 10, 2022 by Doug McVay, Editor.
