On December 16, 2021, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Board Member Professor Kohei Onozaki gave the eighth and final lecture of the tenth semester of Health Policy Academy (HPA). While referring to real policy proposals and similar documents, Professor Onozaki shared know-how regarding the formulation of health policy in the context of the relationships of various stakeholders. Time set aside for discussion after the lecture was longer than usual, and attendees were able to consult Professor Onozaki on issues related to working practices, career advice, and other such topics in a broad question-and-answer session.

This lecture was the final session of this semester of HPA. The first semester of HPA was held in 2015 and this semester marked the tenth time the program has been offered. The introductory lecture for this semester was held in June 2021 and was followed by a tightly-packed schedule of eight lectures, one special lecture featuring HPA alumni, four study sessions, and two short presentation sessions. As in previous years, we hosted frontrunners in each theme as guest speakers who spoke on key issues related to urgent topics in health policy. Study sessions were centered around discussions among attendees from diverse backgrounds in industry, Government, academia, and civil society. Through these discussions, attendees actively deepened their knowledge and, based on the lectures and discussions, gave presentations on their own issues titled, “My Perspective on Future Health Policy.”

Due to circumstances surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the tenth semester of HPA was held in a hybrid format in which participants joined both remotely and in-person.

■ Program (Lectures and study sessions)
Lecture 1 – Introduction (Thursday, June 10, 2021)
 Kohei Onozaki (Board Member, HGPI)
 

Study Session 1: Examining Increased Medical Care Copayments for the Advanced Elderly Through an Income-Based Progressive Payment System (Thursday, June 24)

Lecture 2 – Trends in Health Policy and the Health Insurance System (Thursday, July 8)
 Yasuki Kobayashi (Professor, Department of Public Health and Department of Health and Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
 

Study Session 2: Payment Methods in Japan’s Healthcare System (Thursday, July 15)

Lecture 3 – The Policy Process (Thursday, August 12)
 Tetsuro Okuno (Deputy Director, General Affairs Division, Pharmaceutical Safety and Environmental Health Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
 

Special Study Session – Utilizing Real World Data in Health Economics and Clinical Epidemiology Research (Thursday, August 19)
 Hideo Yasunaga (Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Health Economics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)

Study Session 3: The Decision to Halt the Active Recommendation of the HPV Vaccine (Thursday, August 26)

Lecture 4: Issues and Future Prospects in Pharmaceuticals (Thursday, September 9)
 Takeo Morooka (Representative Partner, PH Consulting LLC; President and Representative Director, Japan Foundation of Medical Isotope Development, General Incorporated)
 
 (Session held remotely.)

Study Session 4: The Revision of the Healthcare Provision System (Thursday, September 16)

Lecture 5 – The Integrated Community Care System – Focusing on Collaboration Between Medical Care and Long-term Care (Thursday, October 7)
 Tetsuo Tsuji (Institute of Gerontology, The University of Tokyo)
 
 (Session held remotely.)

Lecture 6 – Basic Knowledge for Changing Policy from the Outside (Thursday, October 21)
 Yasuhiro Sensho (CEO, SENSHO-GUMI Co., Ltd.; Former Deputy Director of Health Policy Planning, General Affairs Division, Health Policy Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
 

Lecture 7 – Advocacy from Civil Society (Thursday, November 11)
 Yukiko Nishimura (President, Advocacy Service for Rare and Intractable Diseases (NPO ASrid))
 

Short Presentation Session 1 – My Perspective on Future Health Policy (Thursday, November 25)

Short Presentation Session 2 – My Perspective on Future Health Policy (Thursday, December 2)

Lecture 8 – Predicting the Future of Healthcare (Thursday, December 16)
Kohei Onozaki (Board Member, HGPI)

(Speaker names listed above are in no particular order and titles have been omitted. Affiliations and positions are current as of the date of each session.)