The Eighth Medical Care Plan

Abstract

The purpose of medical care plans is to ensure a medical care provision system in a prefecture according to the actual conditions of the region and the basic policy established by the national government. The plan period is six years, with necessary interim reviews. The main items in a medical care plan are the establishment of medical districts, calculation of the standard number of beds, matters related to five diseases, six services, and home medical care, those related to securing doctors, matters pertaining to securing an outpatient care provision system, and a community health care vision. The eighth medical care plan will begin in FY2024.

The plan should address community health care issues highlighted by the spread of the COVID-19 infection. In addition, medical care during emerging infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics was added. It is also important to review based on guidelines added during the seventh medical care plan period regarding the plan for securing doctors, outpatient care plan, and the set of specific medical areas, among others.

As entities that formulate medical plans, prefectures are required to establish effective and efficient medical care provision system. It is necessary to make medical care plans more functional and promote the community health care vision.

The Ninth Insured Long-Term Care Service Plan will also commence in FY2024. As the number of elderly with combined medical and long-term care needs is expected to increase, cooperation between medical and long-term care services will become increasingly important. Therefore, to achieve a functional differentiation and coordination, prefectures are also required to work closely with municipalities to ensure consistency between medical care plans and insured long-term care service plans.

Because the demand for medical and long-term care differs across communities, it is possible to discuss community health care vision and community-based integrated care using objective data based on demographics and age structure and visualize community medical and long-term care provision system. Therefore, establishing indicators for this management and the concept of prioritization for an effective use of the limited medical resources will become even more important in the future.