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News from the NOS•
Limburg GPs collectively oppose insurer VGZ’s decision to reimburse only one type of IUD. In a letter sent to the board of VGZ by seven umbrella organizations of general practitioners in Limburg, they write that the issue does not benefit the trust between doctors and insurers.
The IUD from manufacturer Levosert has been on the market this year and will become VGZ’s “product of choice” from January and thus the only IUD reimbursed by the insurer, he reports 1Linburgh. VGZ is the largest insurer in the province of Limburg.
More difficult to place
The new contraceptive costs a few cents less than its predecessor, but doctors say it’s much more difficult to place. Doctors fear they will have to refer their patients to a gynecologist, making the new IUD more expensive.
“VGZ is raising the money, the implementation costs are on the ground”, the general practitioners of Limburg summarize the problem. They speak of a lack of transparency on the agreements between VGZ and the supplier.
“We find it very annoying that GPs are dissatisfied with the preference policy regarding the Levosert hormone spiral,” VGZ said in a response. “We understand that GPs take time to familiarize themselves with this product. We are happy to discuss with GPs how this can be introduced accurately and correctly.”
In conversation
The Dutch College of GPs (NHG) already said in October that the spiral policy should not be introduced. “This policy has been temporarily suspended, but will be introduced starting January 1, 2023, despite NHG’s written appeal against it.” The company is in talks with VGZ. VGZ acknowledges that he should have consulted doctors first. “We apologized for this.”
NHG believes that Levosert should be introduced into practice “carefully and not immediately on a large scale”. The health insurance informs that all medicines in the Netherlands are extensively controlled and regulated and that the IUD has been authorized. “We assume that this authorization is sufficient to ensure quality and safety and can therefore be designated as a preferred product. We are in consultation with the NHG on this.”
