ZIN, Zorginstituut Nederland (National Health Care Institute), is an independent government agency that ensures all citizens have access to high quality care that is effective, efficient and affordable. 

To that end, ZIN performs several statutory tasks including, but not limited to:

• Advising on care covered by the basic healthcare insurance package;
• Systematic screening of the basic healthcare insurance package;
• Promoting quality and transparency of care; and,
• Managing the funds of the Health Insurance Act and the Long-term Care Act.

ZIN’s role is often to advise the Minister of Health and other national stakeholders on whether or not specific treatments can and/or should be reimbursed through the basic healthcare insurance package. Nevertheless, these are often difficult choices, because while certain decisions might be easy on a population level, they can have an enormous impact on the individual level. For this reason, ZIN relies heavily on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to make evidence-driven assessment which contribute to objective decision-making on a national level.

ZIN has an abundance of (HTA) knowledge and expertise. Healthcare is, however, a complex field which is ever-evolving. This is why parties such as medical experts, patients’ and professionals’ associations, also have an important role in the assessments conducted by ZIN. These stakeholders are represented in two committees which support ZIN in making assessments, namely: the Scientific Advisory Committee (Wetenschappelijke Adviesraad, WAR) and the Insured Package Advisory Committee (Adviescommissie Pakket, ACP). The WAR is mainly involved in how ZIN assesses (cost-)effectiveness and budget impact, while the ACP supports ZIN in taking into account elements which impact societal wellbeing. This approach helps ZIN to ensure knowledge from everyday practice is integrated in advice and assessment outcomes, and contributes to a good and well-balanced basic healthcare package.

ZIN believes scientific and international collaboration is essential in furthering the cause of HTA. For that reason, ZIN has initiated a national scientific network on HTA with Erasmus University Rotterdam & Utrecht University and participates in international HTA organisations such as: HTAi, ISPOR and INAHTA. Additionally, it has facilitated and hosted the EUnetHTA collaboration between 2016-2021 and actively participates in European projects relevant toHTA such as the International Horizon Scanning Initiative (IHSI) and the Horizon 2020 project HTx.

ZIN is proud to serve as ‘local host organization’ for the HTAi Annual Meeting 2022 and looks forward to engaging with the conference speakers and participants. Through this, ZIN aims to contribute to furthering scientific and international collaboration within the HTA community.

Read More