Abstract
The Japan Revitalisation Strategy announced in June 2013 discusses the future roles of insurance-covered pharmacies in establishing new systems to advance disease prevention and health management. It emphasizes the necessity of promoting the effective use of insurance-covered pharmacies and pharmacists as a foundation for the community-based provision of health information, advice, and consultation, with the goal of expanding a healthy lifespan nationwide. Based on this and toward the realization of a society that allows the majority of elderly persons to receive consultation in familiar medical institutions or home medical/care services within their communities, the Japanese government launched the Community-based Integrated Care System. It also newly established the Health Support Pharmacy System, and started its operation, aiming at the integrated provision of housing, medical, care, preventive, and life support services. During this period, the importance of family pharmacists and pharmacies was also re-evaluated, for possible revision of the medical fee system in 2016.
In the Community-based Integrated Care System, health support and family pharmacies are expected to serve as bases for multi-professional collaboration in their communities, and contribute to primary and secondary disease prevention through health evaluation and promotion. Pharmacists may be able to use their occupational skills particularly effectively in the following areas: 1) improving lifestyles through nutritional guidance and exercise therapy, 2) improving medication adherence, involving behavioral change, 3) monitoring medication-related adverse events, and 4) avoiding duplicate medication orders and reducing unused drugs.
On the other hand, there has been criticism about pharmacists, as the integrated collection of medication-related information and the provision of services based on it by them, represented by pharmacological management/guidance, are not necessarily sufficient, making patient-centered role-sharing between medical and pharmacy services difficult. Such criticism indicates pharmacists’ insufficient knowledge and technical skills. Therefore, as a challenge of pharmacist education based on the new 6-year curriculum, it may be necessary to actively provide clinical education, focusing on the contribution to health evaluation and promotion through multi-professional collaboration.
