OHRA and Delta Lloyd are to be the first insurers in the Netherlands to offer their policyholders the option of early diagnostics: an integrated health check-up intended to provide early warning of serious and commonly occurring diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, so that prompt treatment can be given.
OHRA and Delta Lloyd are to be the first insurers in the Netherlands to offer their policyholders the option of early diagnostics: an integrated health check-up intended to provide early warning of serious and commonly occurring diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, so that prompt treatment can be given. This health check-up has been developed by the NIPED Institute in Amsterdam. The Delta Lloyd Group, of which both insurers are a part, will start by making this option available to its own workers. The following month sees the start of a large-scale trial in collaboration with two major Dutch companies that are clients of OHRA and Delta Lloyd. This trial will involve roughly two thousand employees and if it is successful, the group will start offering the prevention and early diagnostics system on a broad front. Initially it will be offered within existing collective contracts, and then it will be the turn of individual policyholders.
In order to implement this project, both healthcare insurers have signed a cooperation agreement with the NIPED Institute in Amsterdam (the NDDO Institute for Prevention and Early Diagnostics), which together with leading medical authorities in the Netherlands has developed an innovative preventive approach. The “Prevention Compass” is of central importance in this approach, and is an accessible annual health check-up for Dutch citizens who want to keep their health “on course”. The Prevention Compass consists of a digital questionnaire, a physical examination and a laboratory analysis of blood, urine and stool samples. The data obtained is analysed by the central NIPED computer and then presented as a personal Health Passport. Based on the results, the NIPED Prevention Compass indicates in strict confidence which preventive measures should be taken in individual cases, and it provides an indication for additional examinations and/or treatment, as appropriate. The new integrated approach is intended to detect not only commonly occurring disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases and various types of cancer, but also stress-related symptoms and depression.
Breakthrough in healthcare
Hugo Keuzenkamp, the director of OHRA Zorg & Inkomen (Healthcare and Income) claims that “early diagnostics for every Dutch citizen” could spark a real revolution in the way in which healthcare is currently organised, in terms of more efficient treatment, lower anticipated treatment costs and better quality of life. “The opportunities that NIPED is now making available in the field of early diagnostics require insurers to embrace this product quickly. Based on their vision for the development of healthcare in the Netherlands, they can be very pragmatic in initiating major changes of this kind. This will be done initially by means of collective contracts with employers – a fast way of reaching a large number of Dutch people. It is clear that NIPED will be part of our healthcare vision for the years ahead. We as insurers will then also be prepared unconditionally to pay for the treatment costs resulting from early diagnosis. We expect a great deal of the pilot projects that are about to be launched.”
The chance for prevention is a must for everyone
“Much more attention needs to be paid to prevention in our healthcare system”, says Kreuzenkamp. “We think nothing of going to see the dentist for regular checkups in order to prevent the need for dental treatment, but as yet we have not got into the same habit with the rest of our body – and that is a shame. Treatment in the latter stages of life costs a lot of money, and we are certainly not going to be making any savings there. At the same time however, what is certain is that a well thought-out approach will allow diagnosis of a number of significant illnesses or their associated risk profiles at a much earlier stage, and so they can be treated much more effectively. This is not just a pure gain for the healthcare system, but it will also contribute to a better quality of life.”
Greater objectivity and more prompt action
According to the person who set up NIPED, the cancer researcher Dr Coen van Kalken, “In the world of medicine we are often too late. Understandably enough, people usually only go to see their doctor when they are suffering from something, but in many pathological processes symptoms only occur late on in the natural course of the disease. Developments are moving very quickly precisely in the area of (early) diagnostics. NIPED has developed an approach based on medical principles by which, together with the existing healthcare system, more attention can be given to this increasingly important area.”
Delta Lloyd and OHRA are both very keen to acquire experience in prevention and early diagnostics quickly and above all intensively, and to investigate the possibilities of involving and supporting general practitioners and company doctors, who represent the first line in healthcare, as a CheckPoint for the Prevention Compass. “We think this could result in greater objectivity in first-line treatment and in earlier referral to specialists”, says Kreuzenkamp. “We are also very taken with the accessibility of the concept. Regular medical checkups are not just a good idea for senior management, but for every employee. NIPED has developed an extremely efficient model that is making medical checkups, which are still so costly, available to everyone. As a large-scale insurer, that appeals to us.” According to the health insurance companies, there is also considerable interest amongst employers in forms of preventive medical interventions. “Reducing the costs associated with illness, absence and rapid reintegration continue to be high on the agenda for employers and for the Dutch government.”
The support of employers is essential
By using a method such as the NIPED Prevention Compass, employers can provide extra value for all their employees at a relatively low cost, as long as they want take part of course. There will always be some people who are not motivated to do anything about their own health. The Prevention Compass makes it possible to put more than just the top levels of management through usually expensive health checkups every year.
“The coming years hold major changes for medicine. In addition to caring for the sick, there is going to be more and more attention paid to “Healthcare” in its most literal sense,” adds a passionate Coen van Kalken. He is very pleased with the commitment shown by both insurance companies. “Our job is of course to make the Prevention Compass available to a large public. We are therefore faced with the challenge of getting the early diagnosis process up and running and to create support for it. The initiatives that Delta Lloyd and OHRA are now taking, and the investments they are making with a number of collective clients, could really get the ball rolling.”
According to Van Kalken, the Prevention Compass is based on the latest scientific understanding of pathological processes and factors that are a benefit or a threat to health. NIPED is working with its own research team comprised of doctors and scientists, who are keeping a close track of developments in the world of medicine. NIPED also has a national scientific advisory body which counts amongst its members prominent representatives from various relevant fields of study and academic centres that advise NIPED.
Professor Chris Meijer, is a professor of pathology, chairman of NIPED’s medical board and is attached to the VU University Medical Centre: “For years I have been involved in research into the early diagnosis of cervical cancer. It is known that if this relatively rare disease can be detected at an earlier stage, then it will respond better to treatment, and a population study has been set up for this. However, the same is true for other types of cancer, and also for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other commonly occurring disorders. It is a good thing for healthcare that one approach has now been developed that will allow all these processes to be investigated in a scientific way.
Professor Ron Peters, a cardiologist at the AMC hospital, is another member of NIPED’s medical board: “A heart attack is not the beginning of a disease, but rather a late stage of a process that we refer to as atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Much can be done in terms of the medical and non-medical prevention of the group of disorders that frequently occur as the result of this. Prevention in the Netherlands must be structured safely and much better. I believe that the NIPED approach can make an important contribution to this.”
Roel Blanken, a general practitioner from Voorhout, has this to say: “In my practice I spend a lot of time answering questions about the opportunities for prevention and early diagnostics. There is a lot of talk about this right now, but it is a difficult matter and until now front-line healthcare itself has failed to set up and implement a structured approach. The NIPED system may well meet this important need. It will also help the general practitioner since the practice support staff will be able to do much of the work independently.
NIPED is an initiative by the director of the NDDO, Coen van Kalken, together with the cardiologist Roderik Kraaijenhagen and the NDDO Research Foundation, and just like the internationally active NDDO organisation (for the development of new cancer therapies), it has an innovative private/public structure: a knowledge centre under the NDDO Research Foundation for use in research, conference activities, and a commercial branch for developing and marketing knowledge products, such as the Prevention Compass.
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For further information, contact:
For press matters and discussion:
OHRA and Delta Lloyd
Marianne de Bruijn, +31 (0)20 4525225 / (0)6 14441398
NIPED
Dr Coen van Kalken +31 (0)20 5171551