President’s message

Tom Verdonck

As advisor at the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (NIHDI, Brussels, Belgium), my working activities are focused on combatting fraud in healthcare and on the promotion of appropriate care in Belgium.

NIHDI is a federal public agency that organizes the healthcare in Belgium. The NIHDI manages the compulsory health insurance which allocates a prospective budget to the sickness funds to finance the health care costs of their members.

The goal of the EHFCN, which is to fight fraud, corruption and waste in the healthcare sector across Europe in order to improve healthcare systems, fits perfectly with the different objectives of NIHDI as gate keeper of the Belgian healthcare system.

I was elected Vice President of EHFCN in October 2016 and I was re-elected in November 2019 at the General Assembly of Berlin.

I took part in EHFCN Executive Committee Meetings, in the organisation of Open Houses (Italy, Greece and the Netherlands) and International Conferences (France and Germany). I had many roles during these events: speaker, moderator and chair of the day.

After being two times and for a limited period Acting President of EHFCN, I have been Acting President from the beginning of November 2020 until February 2021. I was also EHFCN Managing Director ad interim from the first of October 2020 until the end of January 2021.

It is my opinion, EHFCN, trough this sanitary crisis, has to adapt and transform: closer to its members, on a more frequently base and in a more digital and interactive way. All this is based on our Strategic Plan 2021-2023 and our Action Plan 2021. These were approved by our members and delegates at the General Assembly on 2 February 2021.

I hope with the EC-Team and the Managing Director to work on more cooperation with European institutions and partners, including the expansion of the network with new members and the elaboration of EHFCN as a Centre of knowledge.