Court declares GP chain Co-Med bankrupt

This article was last updated on July 5, 2024

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Court declares GP chain Co-Med bankrupt

The commercial GP chain Co-Med has been declared bankrupt. The Maastricht court declared bankruptcy today. This specifically concerns Co-Med’s Zorg BV, from which the practices were managed. The holding company has not been declared bankrupt.

Last Sunday, the chain announced that the company itself was going to file for bankruptcy. A week earlier, the health insurers tore up the contract with Co-Med. As a result, the chain, with ten practices throughout the country, received out of money.

Co-Med’s practices have since been closed “until further notice”. The insurers have temporary insurance for more than 50,000 patients found a new GP.

Structural solution

Two curators have been appointed to handle the bankruptcy. Their spokesperson says that they will be in discussions with health insurers, regulators and the director of Co-Med in the coming days.

Health insurer CZ, which speaks on behalf of all insurers, says that the bankruptcy has no consequences for patients, because they have already received a temporary replacement GP. CZ will see whether the locations and healthcare workers that are now released due to the bankruptcy can help create a structural solution.

No doctors

Co-Med has been under fire for a long time. The Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate (IGJ) previously said that patients face “great risks” because accessibility and emergency care are substandard.

The staffing levels at the practices are also not well organised. Sometimes there are no or insufficient doctors present. That was reason for the insurers to terminate the contract.

The healthcare chain’s lawyer previously said that this decision “pushed Co-Med towards the abyss”. “That directly led to employees reporting sick on a large scale and self-employed people losing their confidence. That was the death knell.”

Files handed over anyway

Last week, the inspection ordered Co-Med to hand over the patient files to the replacement general practitioners. According to the chain, this was not possible because there were too few staff to transfer the files. According to Co-Med, not all patients have given permission to inspect the files.

According to the inspection, this is not correct and the files can simply be transferred. The inspectorate itself has appointed professionals to hand over the files. Incoming mail, such as laboratory results, is also now being processed.