From KGNF Netherlands
IPPTA has requested the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy (KNGF) to provide an update on their work in the Netherlands. We will focus us on the program “Systeemadvies” which was initiated in 2016.
Every citizen of the Netherlands is legally obliged to take out medical health insurance. The Netherlands differentiates between the compulsory standard health care benefit package (basic package) and the optional additional health insurance. 70-75% of physical therapeutic care is reimbursed through the additional health insurance.
In the program Systeemadvies the KNGF came to an agreement with the government, health insurers and patient associations with the common goal of better positioning physical therapy and to shift the reimbursement of physical therapy treatment to the basic package for certain health conditions. This would improve accessibility of physical therapy for Dutch citizens in primary practices. The program focused on the following health conditions: Intermittent Claudication, Osteoarthritis.
To reach this goal, the KNGF had initiated these 3 projects:
- Cost-price study – what is a fair price for physical therapeutic care in the Netherlands? (LINK)
- Development of professional standard – Qualitfication framework for quality of care (not finished yet) and the development of the Practice guidelines for the program-related conditions. (LINK)
- Substitution reports – Investigate if physical therapy is more cost effective through the implementation of the related Practice guidelines. (LINK)
These are some of the many valuable project and programs the KNGF is involved in to better position physical therapy in the Netherlands.
P.S. some links contain information in the Dutch language, probably google translate can assist in a quick translation.
