Press Conference by Prime Minister Kishida Regarding His Visit to Yamagata Prefecture
[Provisional translation]
(On the significance and meaning of Prime Minister Kishida’s visit this time)
Today I was informed of initiatives by Nihonkai Healthcare Net (Regional Medical Coordination Promotion Corporation) here at Nihonkai General Hospital, while listening to opinions of those concerned and holding an exchange of views with them. At the same time, I also inspected the site of medical digital transformation (DX). I heard from Nihonkai Healthcare Net that those involved share a sense of urgency over the challenge of how they will maintain and support medical and nursing care across the region amid a decreasing population, that they are working on prioritizing medical functions, strengthening collaboration between medical and nursing care, and conducing exchanges among medical workers and joint training sessions for staff members, and that they realize and implement various types of collaboration, such as shared use of medical equipment, joint pharmaceutical negotiations, and effective provision of medicines through the operation of a regional formulary.
The Government is currently advancing efforts to back up the “regional medical vision” regarding the medical care delivery system. In addition to establishing a system that will help family doctors to fulfill their function from the viewpoint of the public and patients, we hope to create an effective mechanism to realize more efficient and higher-quality regional system to provide medical services, including clarifying the responsibilities of prefectures. Against this background, 39 corporations across the country are currently certified as regional medical coordination promotion corporations, and the Medical Care Act was amended last year to expand the use of such organizations. Moreover, there is a similar mechanism in the nursing care and welfare sector; namely, 21 corporations are certified as social welfare coordination promotion corporations. We intend to strive for a wider adoption of both these mechanisms and thereby reinforce collaboration among medical institutions and between medical and nursing care.
And today I also inspected medical DX at Nihonkai General Hospital. I heard that the use of My Number Cards linked to health insurance cards and electronic prescription and so forth are actively promoted at the hospital. The Government, on its part, will continue to work as one not only with the medical community, but also with the industrial circle toward the realization of medical DX, and push ahead with thorough preparations for the transition to the My Number Card with a health insurance card function this December.