Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)’s Cardiovascular Disease Control Promotion Project has released policy recommendations titled, “Enhancing Health Checkups for More Effective Early Cardiovascular Disease Detection and Intervention: Lessons From a Survey on Post-Checkup Care-Seeking Behavior Among Working-Age Adults.”

HGPI launched its Cardiovascular Disease Control Promotion Project in 2021 and has since engaged in continuous advocacy through policy recommendations and the sharing of best practices. In FY2025, with an eye toward the interim evaluation of the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Cardiovascular Disease Control and the upcoming third phase (FY2029 onward), HGPI focused on early detection of and intervention for CVD through health checkups, as well as on enhancing the effectiveness of health checkup policies.

In Japan, health checkup uptake rates have steadily improved within a framework focused primarily on lifestyle-related disease prevention. However, challenges remain in post-checkup care-seeking behavior. Connecting the disease risks identified at checkups to prompt and reliable care-seeking is a key component of CVD prevention, yet the intervention methods used to do so, and their operation, are largely left to ad hoc responses at the local level.
In addition, the Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2026, approved by the Cabinet in July 2026, calls for promoting “proactive preventive medicine” — a priority of the Takaichi administration — to improve national Well-being and extend healthy life expectancy, with relevant organizations working together on health promotion, disease prevention, early detection, early intervention, and behavioral change. Early CVD detection starting from health checkups, together with post-checkup care-seeking support, is precisely one of the efforts that give concrete form to this policy direction on the ground.

Drawing on interview sessions and quantitative research, HGPI developed nine recommendations on post-checkup healthcare access for CVD prevention, organized under the four perspectives below. For details, please see the PDF at the end of this page.

Perspective 1: Promoting post-health checkup consultation recommendations with a basis in evidence

1-1 Taking the psychological, physical, and economic barriers to seeking medical care into account, build evidence on the best methods of presenting information and providing care-seeking support to encourage behavioral change

1-2 Once evidence is established, implement it in a manner that is tailored to the characteristics of municipalities and insurers and link it to continuous operational improvements

Perspective 2: Refining target groups for priority intervention and developing a data linkage infrastructure

2-1 Verify existing standards for consultation recommendations and refine criteria for identifying target groups for priority intervention

2-2 Electronically link data held by healthcare institutions and local governments and concentrate human resources where they are most needed

2-3 Eliminate fragmentation in data caused by people changing jobs or retiring, and strengthen coordination among insurers

Perspective 3: Strengthening workplace support systems that help people seek medical care

3-1 Strengthen links between health and productivity management and health data, and establish support systems that enable people to balance treatment and work

3-2 Establish and disseminate treatment support models that can be implemented throughout the workforce, including at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Perspective 4: Achieving equitable standards of quality for health checkups to create a foundation for helping people seek care after checkups

4-1 Ensure health checkups are high-quality by utilizing existing certification systems and quality control frameworks

4-2 Advance efforts to leverage health checkup data (including for longitudinal comparisons) and encourage its practical application in clinical settings through healthcare digital transformation

These policy recommendations are based on discussions at meetings HGPI held for this project and have been compiled in HGPI’s capacity as an independent health policy think-tank. They do not, in any capacity, represent the opinions of any participating expert, speaker, related party, or organization to which those parties are affiliated.