Abstract
The aim of this article is to provide a rough sketch of how the coming health care system looks like from the perspective of the theory of the hospital century (Ikai [2010]). The article concludes with the following three findings: 1) the change in the basic concept of health, from a scientific medicine basis to a quality of life basis, will require a more comprehensive and more community-based health care system, 2) this change in the concept of the field of health care can be understood in the broader context of the drastic changes in social policy over the past thirty years, and 3) establishing a comprehensive, community-based health care system will require resolving a new set of problems, such as finding means of coordinating various health care professionals, strengthening social capital, and controlling health care costs.
