Barrier model against leakage of healthcare funds

The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) is developing a model to prevent the leakage of healthcare funds or the concealment of improper use of healthcare funds. To this end, the NZa first investigated the complex legal organizational structures of healthcare providers .

The Healthcare Authority, in collaboration with accountants, notaries, banks, municipalities, health insurers, and healthcare offices, explored which barriers could prevent this undesirable behavior. This resulted in the barrier model, which provides tools to discourage bad intentions and prevent errors.

Barrier model
The barrier model , developed by the Center for Crime Prevention and Safety (CCV), tracks all the different phases involved in establishing a new healthcare company: from its inception to bankruptcy and potential relaunch. It provides a framework for identifying the risks of improper use of healthcare funds and the barriers that can prevent this at each stage.

Cash flows
Complex legal organizational structures are not inherently illegal, but they do make it more difficult to track financial flows, potentially leading to the improper use of healthcare funds. These findings directly prompted the investigation. They also align with the earlier observation by the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) and other parties that it is relatively easy to start a healthcare business and thereby allow healthcare funds to leak away.