ACM’s response to joint COVID arrangements between ZN, NVZ and NFU for 2022

Going forward, hospitals and health insurers are only allowed to make joint arrangements regarding the reimbursement of COVID-19-related costs if the nationwide continuity of health care is seriously jeopardized. That is one of the conclusions of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) in its response to questions from hospitals and health insurers about the compatibility of their proposed arrangements with competition rules.

In this letter, ACM explains that joint arrangements for early 2022 were necessary for mitigating the financial effects of the unexpected and impactful disruption caused by the Omicron variant. With these arrangements, hospitals and health insurers were able to safeguard continuity of health care and properly complete the bilateral negotiations that had been thwarted by the Omicron variant.

Joint arrangements regarding production losses after April are not necessary, according to ACM. It is possible to include arrangements regarding reimbursement of production losses caused by COVID-19 in the regular bilateral contracting cycle. ACM believes that new arrangements can only be made in special, new circumstances, in which the impact of COVID-19 hits the hospital landscape in such a way that a disruption to our health care system becomes a looming threat.

See also

21-04-2020 ACM: Health insurers are allowed to give health care providers financial support collectively during Coronavirus crisis
28-01-2022 ACM has no objections against the main principles of new COVID-19-related arrangements between hospitals and health insurers
26-10-2021 ACM: health insurers in 2021 may still distribute the additional costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic among each other
12-07-2022 ACM: joint COVID-related arrangements only allowed if nationwide continuity of health care is at risk