2018 Volume 67 Issue 2 Pages 150-157
Information technology has been heralded as a potential silver bullet for problems pertaining to the health care system in Japan. Therefore, the government has made various efforts to exploit the potential of the technology. Nevertheless, information sharing of patient data across medical institutions is still uncommon. Information technology rarely contributes to the quality of medical care, but not to say it is absent. Such a situation is partly ascribed to the lack of human resources that nurture the innovation and popularization of information technologies in healthcare. Accordingly, the government's IT Strategic Headquarters recommended establishing a foundation for human resources development to support informationization of regional healthcare systems, in ”Priority Policy Program ―2007„.
This recommendation led the National Institute of Public Health to found a program, the Information and communication technology Coordinator Training Program (ICTP), targeting local government officials, in 2010. This program comprises three days of schooling and two months of distance learning. Accordingly, it is impractical to educate officials to master all the topics, healthcare, information systems, and their administration in such a short period. Therefore, the program aims at accommodating a community,
instead, for local government officials who are in charge of informatization of healthcare so that they can share the challenges faced and their solutions. Since its establishment, the program has graduated more than 280 officials in eight years, and they have voluntarily formed a community. Further, we have constructed a comprehensive list of projects for informatization of healthcare in Japan. The community is expected to serve for public policy through further growth in the future.
