Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) hosted an installment of 30-minute Health Policy Update, a series of briefings for Diet Members on key health policy issues. This installment was titled, “Community Development for Senior Health: From Establishing Evidence to Social Implementation.”

This briefing featured a lecture from Professor Katsunori Kondo (Project Professor, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University) on promoting health and reducing dementia risk for older adults. In addition to describing the effectiveness of community designs for social participation, sharing case studies of such communities, and establishing evidence for such practices, Professor Kondo also explained methods of implementing initiatives for better senior health in society through frameworks such as Pay For Success (PFS) systems, in which payments are linked to results.

Sharing many questions and insights, Diet Members took the opportunity to engage in a robust exchange of opinions during the Q&A session following the lecture.

Key points of the lecture

• Older adults who live in areas with more opportunities to participate in social activities are less likely to develop the need for long-term care. Long-term care prevention is now transforming from a system in which “the government provides services and community members receive them” to one in which “community members lead the administration and the government supports their efforts.”
• The Pay for Success (PFS) model is one method of providing financial resources for reimbursing successful industry, government, academia, and civil society initiatives and maintaining community member-operated community gatherings. In this context, “success” refers to efficiency gains in terms of social cost. Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are a type of PFS that use private funding. While steps must still be taken to evaluate how effective these agreements are in the medium- to long-term, SIBs allow funding to reach effective service providers while avoiding ineffective ones, so they are likely to serve as a useful tool for optimizing administrative spending.

Program (Titles omitted)

Explanatory introduction and overview of HGPI policy recommendations

Shunichiro Kurita (Senior Manager, HGPI)

Greetings

Hayato Suzuki (Member, House of Representatives)

Lecture: The Potential of Pay for Success (PFS) Models to Help Build Healthy Communities

Katsunori Kondo (Project Professor, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University)