According to the minister, a total of 474 freely established medical specialists have applied for subsidies in the past five years. The aim of the scheme was to reduce the financial obstacles to the switch.
The partnerships of specialists within hospitals are often criticized, because these companies are often paid per medical treatment. This could be the wrong incentive to increase production and possibly provide unnecessary care, according to the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa), among others. This leads to higher healthcare costs.
Since 2016, for the first time, more medical specialists have been employed than in free establishment, the minister writes. This may be because more female medical specialists have come and they are more often employed, says Van Ark. Older specialists, who were relatively more often self-employed, have also retired.
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