Access to diagnostic tests during GP out-of-hours care: A cross-sectional study of all GP out-of-hours services in the Netherlands.

Background: In general practice, excluding serious conditions is one of the cornerstones of the consultation. Diagnostic tests are widely used to assist the decision-making process in these cases. Little is known about general practitioners' (GPs) access to diagnostic tests at GP out-of-hours services.

[Diagnostic tests in GP out-of-hours services in the Netherlands].

Objective: To determine GPs' access to diagnostic tests (medical imaging, laboratory tests, and point-of-care tests) during GP out-of-hours care in the Netherlands and to assess whether access differs between services located adjacent to or separate from an Accident and Emergency (A&E) department.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Method: In 2014 we invited all GP out-of-hours services in the Netherlands to participate in a survey on GPs' access to diagnostic tests in Dutch GP out-of-hours services.

Priority setting for health technology assessment in The Netherlands: principles and practice.

The resources for health technology assessment fall short of that needed to evaluate all health technologies. Therefore, priorities have to be set. In The Netherlands, the Health Care Insurance Board tried to address this issue by developing a more explicit priority setting procedure for the Fund for Investigative Medicine, which is the most important health technology assessment programme in The Netherlands.