Gathering 360 audiences, vibrant discussion on future health policy took place.
On April 26th, inviting Prof. Mark Sculpher, the Center for Health Economics, the University of York, UK, as the keynote speaker, the Research Center for Health Policy and Economics organized Hitotsubashi University Health Economics Symposium “Health Economics and Health Policy.”
As health spending is increasing at an alarming rate in this super-ageing society, efficient allocation of scarce healthcare resources becomes a key societal challenge to Japan. Although it was held on a weekday, the symposium drew a great deal of public attention and gathered 360 audiences from medical institutions, insurer, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturer, related government ministries and agencies, research institutions, etc. The center would send its most sincere thanks to the attendants and all who helped to organize the symposium.
Following the opening remarks of Motohiro Sato, the director of the Center, Prof. Mark Sculpher gave the keynote lecture titled “NICE: Health technology assessment and decision-making in the UK.” He overviewed the experience and the prospect of health policy making in the UK, which has been leading the world in utilizing the idea of cost-effectiveness in the health system and presented valuable suggestions on the health policy-making and development of human resources for that. His lecture was very timely since Japan is facing the 2018 revision of pricing of healthcare technologies for the public health insurance and in a transition phase of starting a new public healthcare system based on cost-effectiveness. After the keynote lecture, three lectures were delivered by distinguished speakers, including Professor Motoshige Ito from the Gakushuin University, Director Takashi Fukuda from the Department of Health and Welfare Services, the National Institute of Public Health, and Director Shuzo Nishimura from the Institute for Health Economics and Policy.
In the latter half of the symposium, there was a panel discussion chaired by Motohiro Sato. In this session, the panel answered and discussed questions collected from the audiences. Topics involved healthcare resources, primary care, community-based integrated care systems, cost consciousness of medical institutions and patients, etc.
The symposium was co-sponsored by the Kikawada Foundation (the 21-Seiki Bunka Gakujyutsu Zaidan).
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| Keynote lecturer Mark Sculpher University of York, UK | Panel discussion |
Panel Discussion: Panelists and the chair
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| Mark Sculpher University of York, UK | Motoshige Ito Gakushuin University | Takashi Fukuda National Institute of Public Health | Shuzo Nishimura Institute for Health Economics and Policy | Chair Motohiro Sato Hitotsubashi University |