Abstract
Basic policies for a modality of the medical insurance system and reform of the medical treatment remuneration system were formulated and determined at the Cabinet council on March 28, 2003. A vision of a framework for medical service provision was subsequently made public on April 30.
As far as the future framework for medical service provision is concerned, a reform will be introduced that focuses on functional specialization of each medical institution and cooperation between institutions as well as on the role of the primary care physician and the adequacy of treatment in remote areas. Restructuring of the medical treatment remuneration system will be based on evaluation of both difficulty level of medical technology and time and also on the examination of the primary care functions of medical institutions.
In the future, dermatologists will have to be more concerned with dermatological medical check-ups of outpatients in the community health setting and their involvement in primary care.
Further discussion on the topic of setting of medical treatment remuneration is planned in the future, and it is quite urgent that data be accumulated in the field of dermatology.
