The Creation of a New Integrated Healthcare Network

ABSTRACT

Japan's debate on healthcare reform has been ineffective because it fails to draw a distinction between two separate problems: on one hand, the need for a healthcare insurance system that would secure financial resources, and on the other, the need for the current network of healthcare providers to improve product quality and curb costs. Deep-seated opposition exists even within the American healthcare system, which lies at the opposite extreme of the Japanese one. Designed to conquer the harmful effects of managed care, the new integrated healthcare network (IHN) is, nonetheless, a mechanism that can be useful as a model for a new community based Japanese healthcare system.

IHNs, which are comprised of wide area healthcare markets, receive self-motivated participation from independent medical practitioners. The unifying force for this network is created by the drawing up of clinical protocol for major diseases and a healthcare benchmarking system established through the cooperation of many healthcare organizations. Such mechanisms are the main reason why America has established the global standard in clinical practice.

Japan's healthcare industry, meanwhile, is competitively weak on the global level. For a country that boasts a large national trade surplus, there is over 700 billion yen of deficit in the trade of medical supplies and equipment. With the digitalization of healthcare information, Japan has even been overtaken by Korea. Patients and research funds for clinical testing now flow into Asia as well as the US and Europe.

In this report, I will present the following four recommendations for the improvement of international competitiveness in the Japanese healthcare industry.