WILLEMSTAD - Pulmonologist Earl Esseboom and cardiologist Arthur Liqui Lung do not have to comply with the production maximum set by the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) for independent medical specialists. The judge on the merits ruled that there was no legal basis for unilaterally imposing such a maximum.
Esseboom and Liqui Lung, both directors of the Heart & Lung Quality Center, appealed on June 16 last year against the decision of the SVB that set a production ceiling for all independent medical specialists as of July 1, 2020.
In the case of these two specialists, this concerns a maximum amount of 375,000 guilders for the period from 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020 and 750,000 guilders for 2021. Declarations in excess of these amounts are 'not made payable by the SVB'. The measure was temporarily suspended pending a ruling in the proceedings on the merits.
But after the verdict of the court of first instance, the decisions of 20 and 22 May 2020 for these two specialists will be annulled. Because there is no legal basis 'for the unilateral determination of a production ceiling, as happened in the contested decisions', according to the judge's opinion.