Toward Building a Local Community Health and Medical Care Platform

To increase the sustainability of social security in a super-aged society, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) seeks to enable local governments to take the lead in creating the Community-based Integrated Care System responsive to regional characteristics that provides not only medical and nursing care but also housing, preventive care, and living support services as an integrated system.
In step with these environmental changes, the Alfresa Group aims to act as a bridge connecting various players in the Community-based Integrated Care System, such as local governments and medical institutions, and to evolve into the role of a provider of comprehensive support for community healthcare.

1Evolving from the Role of an Infrastructure for Pharmaceuticals Distribution to the Role of a Provider of Comprehensive Support for Community Healthcare

The Japanese government is promoting the building of the Community-based Integrated Care System targeting 2025, and initiatives are underway in every region of the country. One of the challenges to overcome is how to link the medical institutions and nursing care facilities, etc., that have functioned separately up until now. Through its Ethical pharmaceuticals wholesaling business, the Alfresa Group has already established relationships with over 100,000 medical institutions and dispensing pharmacies, who are the leading players in the Community-based Integrated Care System. We aim to use this strength to serve as a connection between medical care, nursing care, home care, and local governments involved in community healthcare.
In preparation, since 2017 we have encouraged our Marketing Specialists (MS) responsible for medical institutions to acquire Medical Management Specialist credentials. Medical Management Specialist is a private-sector qualification certifying competence in medical institution management. We believe that the acquisition of this knowledge and capability will yield deep insight into the Community-based Integrated Care System. Furthermore, in January 2019 we set up a joint research group with Yamato Transport Co., Ltd., which has started studying new distribution network formats in light of the future changes to the healthcare provision system. We are promoting new initiatives aimed at evolving from the role of an infrastructure for pharmaceuticals distribution to that of a provider of comprehensive support for community healthcare.

2Envisaging a New Business Model

In the 19–21 Mid-term Management Plan, we have already started looking at the future after the Community-based Integrated Care System is established. The goal of the Community-based Integrated Care System is to provide support within the community to enable people to continue living to the end of their lives in the area and the style that they are accustomed to. In the future, we envisage the creation of new services in collaboration with wide-ranging service providers beyond the medical field, such as insurance, housing, and payment. Looking five and ten years ahead, we will continue studying ways to be deeply involved in community health and living.

3The Community-based Integrated Care System Initiatives in Fujimino City

In Fujimino, we started working on the Community-based Integrated Care System from around 2013. At first, we werenʼt sure how to begin. A major step forward occurred when the project for promoting links between home care and nursing care was positioned as a community support project. Among the many initiatives, home care is the area that is most difficult without making links with many professions. By establishing a Community Health Care and Nursing Care Consultation Desk within the medical association, we created deep connections between the Social Welfare Department and the medical association where previously there had been none. Furthermore, where some nursing care workers had encountered high barriers to establishing links with doctors, we held training seminars for various professionals This led to a change in awareness among them, and I feel that they established relationships by meeting face to face.
My first encounter with Alfresa Corporation came when my section was involved in dementia awareness-raising activities as the main initiative in the Dementia Promotion Project. Alfresa Corporation had visited us for regular information exchange on health and medical care initiatives, and when I learned they were focusing on dementia awareness-raising and treatment activities as part of their community contribution, I had a talk with them. They had a wealth of private-sector information and expertise in matters such as provision of dementia awareness-raising pamphlets and street campaigns. It was a great opportunity to find out what each of us was able to do.
For our next initiative, we are thinking to deal with leftover medicines and multiple drug dosages from multiple institutions, which are issues for elderly people receiving care at home. This will require connections between family doctors and pharmacists associations, and will need to be developed at scale. I am hopeful that private-sector companies will have tools and solutions that can help.
In building the Community-based Integrated Care System, it is important to create connections between multiple professions. I believe this project will only be able to move forward with the active assistance of private-sector companies. Looking ahead, I will work to build the Community-based Integrated Care System tailored to the needs of Fujimino by drawing on wisdom from various sources.

Group Companies

Ethical Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling Business

Self-Medication Products Wholesaling Business

Manufacturing Business

Medical-Related Business

Information System Business for the Alfresa Group