*A report on the Working Group Meeting has been published on March 30, 2022.

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) hosted a meeting of the Working Group on Issues and Future Prospects for Work Style Reform for Medical Staff Ahead of the 2024 Revision of the Medical Care Act. To prevent the potential spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the meeting was held online and was closed to the public.

As the declining birthrate and population aging in Japan shifts demographics and disease profile, demand for healthcare and long-term care is increasing. The resulting shortage of care providers is becoming a threat to healthcare system sustainability and an issue that requires urgent action. In this context, to ensure healthcare remains high in quality, society is starting to see the need to reform work styles among physicians and other healthcare professionals to alleviate the demanding working conditions they have always faced. When the April 2024 revision of the Medical Care Act comes into effect, it will bring regulations targeting specific aspects of this issue, such as one regulation that will place an upper limit on overtime hours for physicians.

In addition to healthcare providers, patients, and other healthcare beneficiaries, this project gathered specialists from various fields including health administration and digital transformation (DX) to discuss how April 2024 regulations will be implemented and to examine future issues and solutions in efforts to further promote work style reform for medical staff.

Working group members (Titles omitted; in alphabetical order)

Special advisor

• Hanako Jimi (Member, House of Councillors; Member, Liberal Democratic Party)

Advisory board members

• Michiko Fukushima (Representative, Michiko Fukushima Social Insurance and Labor Consultant Office)
• Takahisa Goto (Director, Yokohama City University Hospital)
• Kayo Ishikawa (Director, HITO Medical Center, Medical Group ISHIKAWA)
• Tomoko Komagata (Nurse, Healthcare Development Section, Management Planning Department, Bureau of International Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Japan)
• Takumi Kubota (General Manager, Ageo Medical Group Council)
• Daisuke Ogata (Consultant, High-Z Inc.)
• Kunihiro Ohyama (Executive Officer and General Manager, Medical and Pharmaceutical Sales Division, Public Sector Business Group, Microsoft Japan)
• Yasuhiro Sensho (CEO, SENSHO-GUMI Co., Ltd.)
• Satoshi Takayama (Corporate Senior Officer, transcosmos inc.)
• Ikuko Toyoda (Chairperson, NPO Kakehashi)
• Satoshi Watanuki (Medical Director, Division of Emergency and General Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center)

Observer

• Hironori Tsuboi (Director for Promotion of Work Style Reform for Physicians, Nurses, and Other Healthcare Professionals, Medical Affairs Division, Health Policy Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; Director, Medical Labour Planning Division, Labour Standards Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)