[Event Report] Innovation and Sustainability Symposium “Expectations Toward the Future Shape of the Japanese Healthcare System Exploring Issues of Cost, Quality, and Access Identified in Public Opinion Research” (January 22, 2021)

date : 3/8/2021

Tags: Future of the Health Care System, Innovation and Sustainability

[Event Report] Innovation and Sustainability Symposium “Expectations Toward the Future Shape of the Japanese Healthcare System Exploring Issues of Cost, Quality, and Access Identified in Public Opinion Research” (January 22, 2021)

On January 22, 2021, the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) held a symposium to discuss the expectations of the public for Japan’s healthcare system based on findings from public opinion research undertaken from November 2020.

Since the achievement of universal health coverage in 1961, Japan’s healthcare system has supported the growth of the one of the healthiest and longest living populations in the world. However, the system is now facing a number of issues, including an increase in the number of elderly people it serves (who tend to require relatively higher medical costs), a decline in the size of the working population that supports the system, and a rise in healthcare costs due to greater use of advanced medical technology.

Without reform, the gap between the cost of care and payments into the system will expand. Furthermore, Japan’s robust healthcare system is essential to minimize the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). As such, greater debate is needed on the sustainability of the system. Within that debate, it is important to ask the Japanese public what it wants from its healthcare system. Decisions on the balance of cost, access, and quality provided by the system should consider public opinion.

At this symposium, leading experts in Japan discussed public aspirations for Japan’s healthcare system and the sustainability of the system. This symposium also addressed the issue of how to communicate public opinion to policymakers, and the challenges that the public faces in order to participate in healthcare policy formation.

A detailed report is currently being created around the discussion at this symposium. That report will be posted below in the future.

■Overview
Date: Friday, January 22, 2021
Organizer: Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)
This symposium was made possible thanks to the generous support of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Gilead Science K.K., and Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K.

■Program
Opening Remarks (Video Message)

Yasutoshi Nishimura (Member of the House of Representatives / Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization / Minister in charge of Social Security Reform / Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy)

Presentation “Results of Research into Public Opinion on the Healthcare System”

Matt McEnany (HGPI Senior Manager)

Keynote Speech 1 “Creating a Social Security System Oriented to All Generations / The Government’s Perspective on Japan’s Future”

Kentaro Enomoto (Deputy Director General (Health Policy), Minister’s Secretariat, MHLW)

Keynote Speech 2 “Creating a Social Security System Oriented to All Generations / The Government’s Perspective on Japan’s Future”

Yoshinori Hiroi (Professor, Kokoro Research Center Kyoto University)

Panel Discussion “Co-creating a Better Society with the Public”

Panelists:

Satoshi Imamura (Vice President, Japan Medical Association)
Kentaro Enomoto (Deputy Director General (Health Policy), Minister’s Secretariat, MHLW)
Kenichi Oi (Executive Director and Program Director, Cancer Support Community)
Kohei Takashima (Chair, Committee on Social Security Reform from the Perspective of the Generation Seeing Increased Costs, Japan Association of Corporate Executives / Representative Director, CEO, Oisix ra daichi Inc.)
Yoshinori Hiroi (Professor, Kokoro Research Center Kyoto University)