For people with long-term corona complaints, there has been a temporary paramedical recovery care scheme since mid-2020. This scheme initially ran until August 1, 2021. On the advice of C-support, among others, it was extended until August 1, 2022, then until August 1, 2023 and then until January 1, 2024. VWS then decided to extend the scheme until January 1, 2025. Whether there will be an extension after that depends on the research into the effectiveness of recovery care.
Recovery care is conditionally admitted to the basic package
In order to be reimbursed for care from the basic package, treatments must be proven to be effective. This is currently not yet the case for the effects of paramedical recovery care in patients with persistent complaints and limitations after COVID-19. That is why paramedical recovery care is not simply reimbursed from the basic package. In order to be able to reimburse recovery care, it has been conditionally admitted to the basic package. In the meantime, the effectiveness of the care is being investigated. Based on that research, the Healthcare Institute will issue a position statement. In this statement, we will state whether or not recovery care will definitively be reimbursed from the basic package. The Healthcare Institute is awaiting the results of additional research. Depending on when these are received, the planning for issuing the position statement will be adjusted.
Treatment times
The scheme has been extended, the treatment periods remain the same. A maximum has been set for the number of treatments for which reimbursement applies. This recovery care lasts a maximum of six months and can consist of physiotherapy or exercise therapy (max. 50 treatments), occupational therapy (max. 10 hours), dietetics (max. 7 hours) and speech therapy (no maximum). The care is adapted to the personal situation and reimbursed from the basic insurance. Patients do pay a deductible for this. The practitioners report to the general practitioner on the progress of the treatments. After approximately 3 months, the general practitioner assesses whether and how the care should be continued.
The rules that apply to paramedical recovery care:
- You can request a referral for paramedical recovery care up to six months after your acute illness.
- Paramedical recovery care lasts a maximum of six months. Sometimes you can get a second treatment period of recovery care. This is possible with a referral from the medical specialist if there is demonstrable long-term damage such as a permanent lung defect, permanent shortening of tendons or muscles or nerve disorders.
- A second treatment period can also be started with a referral from the GP in the following cases:
- If you have been able to do little work in the first months of the paramedical recovery care trajectory, due to serious consequences of COVID-19 or (necessary treatments for) other complaints. As a result, there has been too little time for good recovery care.
- If, after a period of increasing recovery, you experience a setback that partially undoes the recovery that has already occurred.
- If, after a considerable time after a course of treatment by a therapist (usually physiotherapy or exercise therapy), it appears that there is a need for care from a second or third therapist. In some cases, this therapist is still called in, but there is little time left for an adequate treatment program. And in other cases, this care does not come about before the end of the treatment period for paramedical recovery care of six months.
- The extension of the recovery care must start within four months after the first period of recovery care. Otherwise the results from the first six months are no longer useful.
- Are you not eligible for the paramedical recovery care scheme? Then you will now receive reimbursement for normal care from the basic package: speech therapy, occupational therapy (max. 10 hours) and advice from a dietician (max. 3 hours). Do you have additional insurance for physiotherapy, for example? Then you will receive reimbursement from the additional insurance.
Check out the website of the Healthcare Institute of the Netherlands for more information about the paramedical recovery care scheme.
