HERO Project Wins 2026 National Healthcare Innovation Award for Opioid Reduction
The KNMP Zorginnovatieprijs 2026 has been awarded to ‘HERO – Hybride Zorg voor Veilige Opiaatafbouw’ (HERO – Hybrid Care for Safe Opioid Tapering), a project developed by public pharmacists Martine de Ponti and Mijke van Riet, pharmacists Claudia Rijcken and Arianne van Rhijn and Anouk Tulp, Innovation Manager at VGZ. The award was presented by KNMP board member Noortje Swart during the KNMP Spring Congress on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
Hybrid Care Pathway for Opioid Tapering
HERO develops, implements, and evaluates an innovative and scalable hybrid care pathway. This pathway enables pharmacists, general practitioners, and other primary care providers to efficiently reduce the unnecessary chronic use of opioids. The hybrid model allows pharmacists to actively initiate tapering trajectories, providing digital guidance in a location- and time-independent manner. This guidance combines digital notifications, app-based coaching, and human care when needed.
A previous proof-of-concept demonstrated that hybrid tapering is feasible and valued by both patients and pharmacists. More information about the project can be found on the KNMP website.
KNMP Healthcare Innovation Award
The KNMP Zorginnovatieprijs has been awarded since 2011 and serves as an incentive for innovative pharmacists to share and further develop their ideas. For this year’s award, the jury selected three nominees, who presented their submissions to KNMP members via informative videos. Members were able to vote for the prize winner until mid-February 2026. Details on all finalists can be found at Zorginnovatie.nl.
View an overview of all nominees here.