The Dutch healthcare authority NZa has advised health minister Ab Klink to postpone the introduction of a free pricing system for hospitals because of administration problems.

Tuesday’s Financieele Dagblad reports that the NZa has told the minister hospitals are still not clear about the cost of the services and treatments they offer, so health insurers do not know exactly what services they are buying in.
Klink wanted all hospitals to set all their own prices from January 1 2009, but the NZa says the current lack of clarity would lead to chaos, reports the paper. Currently, hospitals are free to set their own fees for some 10% of treatments.