HGPI held the fourth meeting of the “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” Taskforce on the topic of the “Innovative Financing Mechanisms to Help Fund New Treatments and Health Interventions.”

Since the achievement of universal health coverage in 1961, the Japanese health system has supported the growth of the one of the healthiest and longest living populations in the world. As that population continues to age, Japan is being presented with a tremendous opportunity: to show the rest of the world how a super-aging society can successfully maintain a national health insurance system that works for all generations, and that can incorporate medical innovations and ensure healthy longevity even under circumstances in which members of the population regularly live to over 100-years of age.

As part of its “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” project, HPGI has formed a taskforce to debate policy measures that can support the achievement of such a system. This taskforce aims to produce an expert report on the health policy opportunities available to Japan within FY2020.

At this fifth taskforce meeting, taskforce members considered the functions of the healthcare system in terms of risk sharing and the redistribution of resources. Participants debated the economic and financial impact of reforms to the healthcare system.

■Overview
Date and time: Monday, February 17, 2020
Organizer: HGPI

■Program
Presentation “Innovative Financing Mechanisms to Help Fund New Treatments and Health Interventions”
Kazumasa Oguro (Professor, Faculty of Economics, Hosei University)

Taskforce Discussion
Taskforce Members (alphabetical order by last name):
Akihisa Harada (President, Pfizer Japan Inc.)
Mamoru Ichikawa (Principal Program Director, Production Center 3 Science Programs Division, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK))
Ataru Igarashi (Associate Professor, Unit of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Yokohama City University of Medicine / Visiting Associate Professor, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo / Fellow, HGPI)
Satoshi Imamura (Vice-President, Japan Medical Association)
Toshio Nagase (Senior Director, Government Affairs Japan, Gilead Science K.K.)
Hiroshi Nakamura (Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Keio University)
Naokazu Saito (Director, Policy Intelligence Department, Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K.)
Naomi Sakurai (President, Cancer Solutions Co., Ltd.)
Eiko Shimizu (Project Associate Professor, ITHC, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
Mitsuo Umezu (Director, Institute for Medical Regulatory Science, Waseda University)
Hirokazu Yoshii (Special Advisor to the President, Health Insurance Claims Review & Reimbursement Services)

Observer:
Michinori Haba (Director for Budget, Budget Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI))

Moderators:
Kazumasa Oguro (Professor, Faculty of Economics, Hosei University)
Joji Sugawara (Senior Associate, HGPI)

■Related events held as part of the “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” project in FY2019 (chronological order)
October 16, 2019 First Meeting of the “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” Taskforce: Measures to Increase Spending Efficiency

November 5, 2019 Rethinking Social Security: Ensuring an Ideal Balance between Health Insurance Benefits and Premiums – A Multistakeholder Conversation on Japan’s Universal Healthcare System

November 18, 2019 Second Meeting of the “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” Taskforce: Measures to Effectively Control Costs for Research and Development and to Improve Market Access

December 12, 2019 Third Meeting of the “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” Taskforce: The Further Development of Push and Pull Incentives for Innovation

January 16, 2020 Fourth Meeting of the “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” Taskforce: Measures to Strengthen the Information Base / Data Infrastructure to Better Inform Policy Debates