WILLEMSTAD – The Fair Trade Authority Curaçao (FTAC) has issued a preliminary ruling stating that the Stichting Primary Care Curaçao (SPCC), which operates as Huisartsenpost Curaçao (HAP), abused its dominant market position by requiring general practitioners to use a single software system. The announcement was made by the regulator on July 3. 

The case was brought forward by eight general practitioners who filed a complaint with FTAC. They argued that HAP made the use of the SQ.arts information system mandatory in order to participate in after-hours services, including evening, night, and weekend shifts. 

Following its investigation, the FTAC largely sided with the complainants. The regulator found that the exclusivity requirement is unnecessary, especially since technically viable alternatives exist—such as using open standards and APIs (application programming interfaces) for data exchange. 

Dominant Market Position 

The FTAC determined that SPCC holds at least 70% market share in the field of after-hours primary care on Curaçao. This gives the organization a dominant position in the market. 

By excluding all other general practitioner information systems (HIS), the policy disadvantages doctors who don’t use SQ.arts. Those physicians must arrange after-hours coverage themselves and risk losing patients to colleagues with access to the HAP system. 

As a result, FTAC plans to order SPCC to create and fund an open API connection between its system and other existing HIS platforms. This would allow doctors using alternative software to interface with the HAP system—provided they cover their own integration costs. 

However, the complaint by four doctors who currently do not use any digital system was dismissed. FTAC ruled it is reasonable to require all participating GPs to use secure medical software that allows safe exchange of patient data. 

Next Steps 

Stakeholders now have six weeks to submit their feedback on the draft decision. After this period, FTAC will issue a final ruling, which may then be subject to formal objection and appeal. 

The case highlights ongoing tensions in Curaçao’s healthcare system between centralized control and competition, especially as digital tools become increasingly essential in delivering efficient and coordinated care.