Health Care Quality Not Transparent

The quality of health care in the Netherlands is not transparent enough. The Dutch Court of Audits, de Algemene Rekenkamer, states that it is difficult for patients to choose the right health care institution or practitioner because there is not enough information about their quality. To comply with the new Quality Act for health care institutions, the Ministry of Public Health has developed 800 indicators of the quality of health care and has taken several initiatives to improve transparency since 1996. Rekenkamer, however, thinks they are not efficient enough. This makes it difficult for health care institutions to improve their services, for the Dutch Inspection on Health Care, Inspectie voor de Gezondheidszorg (IGZ), to supervise and for insurers to buy care. Nu.nl reports that the Dutch Minister for Public Health, Edith Schippers, says that her initiative for the new Quality Institute will play a major role in improving transparency in the future.