Keywords Community-based Integrated Care System (CICS) · Health Information
Systems · Discharge summary for continuing nursing care
1 Introduction
Global health indicators, such as life expectancy at birth, in Japan, are among the
best in the world. However, increasing health expenditure resulting from an ageing
society and advances in medical technologies exert pressure on the nation’s finances.
Japan’s healthcare expenditure was 10.9% of the gross domestic product in 2016,
ranking sixth among 35 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) countries. Furthermore, healthcare costs are expected to increase due to
population aging (OECD, 2017).
Currently, major problems of the Japanese medical care system are increased
financial burdens resulting from medical demands and changes in disease structure
associated with the declining birthrate and aging population. The direction of reform
for this system is as follows: (1) maintenance and promotion of health, prevention of
disease, and promotion of early detection; (2) promotion of differentiation and
coordinated among medical functions (community medicine concept); and (3) establishment of “the Community-based Integrated Care System(CICS)” (Tomiyama,
2017). We discuss the framework of CICS and Health Information Systems and
consider the problem of discharge summary for continuing nursing care. Finally, we
consider the framework of the new health information exchange system.
2 Community-Based Integrated Care System (CICS)
The increase in financial burden due to medical demand is one of Japan’s major
problems, to which CICS is expected to be a solution. It is necessary to emphasize
home care. It shifts the maintenance period for medical care from the hospital to the
home. To realize seamless cooperation at home, interprofessional work is necessary.
To facilitate interprofessional collaboration, information sharing is necessary, and a
user-friendly system is needed rather than an electronic medical record in a hospital.
It is desirable that a two-way network that supports information sharing is available.
Regional medical information cooperation networks are rapidly increasing due to the
effects of subsidies, however, there are still a few networks that are able to obtain
usage fees to cover operating expenses. In order to establish CICS, further progress
of information and communications technology (ICT) in the medical and care field is
desired. We first discuss the framework of CICS and elaborate on information
sharing that is important therein. Subsequently, we outline the present electronic
medical records (EMR) system and problems with the regional medical network.
156
K. Katsuyama et al.
Systems · Discharge summary for continuing nursing care
1 Introduction
Global health indicators, such as life expectancy at birth, in Japan, are among the
best in the world. However, increasing health expenditure resulting from an ageing
society and advances in medical technologies exert pressure on the nation’s finances.
Japan’s healthcare expenditure was 10.9% of the gross domestic product in 2016,
ranking sixth among 35 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) countries. Furthermore, healthcare costs are expected to increase due to
population aging (OECD, 2017).
Currently, major problems of the Japanese medical care system are increased
financial burdens resulting from medical demands and changes in disease structure
associated with the declining birthrate and aging population. The direction of reform
for this system is as follows: (1) maintenance and promotion of health, prevention of
disease, and promotion of early detection; (2) promotion of differentiation and
coordinated among medical functions (community medicine concept); and (3) establishment of “the Community-based Integrated Care System(CICS)” (Tomiyama,
2017). We discuss the framework of CICS and Health Information Systems and
consider the problem of discharge summary for continuing nursing care. Finally, we
consider the framework of the new health information exchange system.
2 Community-Based Integrated Care System (CICS)
The increase in financial burden due to medical demand is one of Japan’s major
problems, to which CICS is expected to be a solution. It is necessary to emphasize
home care. It shifts the maintenance period for medical care from the hospital to the
home. To realize seamless cooperation at home, interprofessional work is necessary.
To facilitate interprofessional collaboration, information sharing is necessary, and a
user-friendly system is needed rather than an electronic medical record in a hospital.
It is desirable that a two-way network that supports information sharing is available.
Regional medical information cooperation networks are rapidly increasing due to the
effects of subsidies, however, there are still a few networks that are able to obtain
usage fees to cover operating expenses. In order to establish CICS, further progress
of information and communications technology (ICT) in the medical and care field is
desired. We first discuss the framework of CICS and elaborate on information
sharing that is important therein. Subsequently, we outline the present electronic
medical records (EMR) system and problems with the regional medical network.
156
K. Katsuyama et al.