Reducing regulatory pressure in healthcare

Even better than scrapping unnecessary rules, is preventing the unnecessary rules from being introduced at all That’s what Henk Nies thinks: “We have been working on this as a knowledge centre in recent years. For example in the ‘Experiment low control settings’ (ERAI) and in the program ‘Keep It Simple and Short’ (KISS).

In this context, we visited bodies such as the care offices or the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) to see which policies create unnecessary administrative burdens. Incidentally, the tendency to introduce new rules can be found everywhere in healthcare, at every level. The tendency to create protocols or checklists is deep. We also need to work together on awareness and cultural change.

In general, if you understand a rule better, you can apply it better. By way of illustration, I would like to mention the discussion about the signature under the care plan. At many institutions, the client is asked for a new signature every time the care plan changes, but if you reason back to where that rule once came from, you understand that the care office mainly wants to know whether the care plans were actually made together with the client. You can make agreements about this without the administrative burden of a signature. That’s better for all concerned. If you don’t understand each other’s rules, delete!”

(De)regulate the care

Advisor Else Stapersma says: “Facilitating professionals and organizations in reducing regulatory burden is central to this program, with the ultimate goal of more time for the client (3) and more job satisfaction for professionals (3).

DIY planning

Planning appointments now takes a lot of time. Often this is even the most important task of medical assistants. In a number of care institutions we see that the logic behind these plans is adopted by artificial intelligence. This makes it possible for patients to make their own appointments. Both patients (3) and employees (3) highly appreciate this way of planning.