Family doctor chain Co-Med declared bankrupt

The court in Maastricht has declared the commercial general practitioner chain Co-Med bankrupt. The bankruptcy specifically affects Co-Med’s Zorg BV, from which it manages its family doctor practices. The holding company has not been declared bankrupt, NOS reports.

On Sunday, the chain announced it was going to file for bankruptcy this week. Last week, the four large Duch health insurers terminated their contracts with Co-Med, declaring the commercial family doctor chain in default. They had concerns that the chain did not have enough doctors to provide good and continuous care, among other things. Co-Med’s practices have since been closed “until further notice.” The health insurers found new GPs for the over 50,000 affected patients.

Co-Med narrowly escaped bankruptcy early in June but wasn’t able to survive the health insurers terminating its contracts. The chain’s lawyer previously told NOS that the decision would be Co-Med’s downfall. “That directly led to employees reporting sick on a large scale and freelancers losing their confidence. That was the death blow.”

Co-Med has been under controversy for some time, with patients complaining that they couldn’t reach the company, no doctors were available to see them, and the care they received was inadequate. The Healthcare and Youtn Inspectorate had placed the organization under increased supervision due to these reports, ordering the commercial GP chain to provide monthly reports about how it arranged care at all locations.

Last week, the Inspectorate ordered Co-Med to transfer its patient files to the replacement general practitioners. The chain claimed it couldn’t because it didn’t have enough staff members to do the transfer, and not all patients had given permission. The Inspectorate has now appointed professionals to do the transfer, according to the broadcaster.

Co-Med has branches in Amsterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda, Enschede, and Helmond.