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Japanese Group Seeks Health Care Tips From Greater Baltimore Medical Center

Posted on: Friday, 29 October 2004, 09:00 CDT

Despite the persistent call for health care reform in this country, other nations apparently still look at the U.S. system with some envy.

Six top Japanese health officials yesterday met with directors from the Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson to find out how best to deal with an aging population and rising health care costs.

The delegation chose to visit GMBC because it is a nonprofit hospital similar in size to most health care facilities in Japan. The hospital, which treats about 20,000 patients each year, is the only facility the delegation will visit during a 12-day fact- finding mission in the United States.

The U.S. health care system is quite advanced, and we would like to hear from [GBMC officials] on issues we see in Japan, said Hideki Kido, managing director of the Shuppan Health Insurance Society, through an interpreter.

The delegation's primary concern is dealing with an aging population that is increasingly reliant on government-funded insurance.

Japan has universal coverage, which includes long-term care benefits provided by the public and private sectors. Right now, there's no problem, as there are roughly four working-age adults for every person 65 and older.

However, by 2050, there will be just one working-age adult for every two senior citizens. And Japan enjoys the longest life expectancy in the world: 85 years for women and 78 years for men.

Without change, the demand for dollars will far outstrip the supply.

We are facing rising health care costs because of that, but we will not change the system of universal coverage, Kido said. Therefore, we need to talk about drastic reforms.

The Japanese have been exploring ways to raise premiums, cut some benefits and increase the number of people who pay into the health care system.

One relatively painless way to save money might be to follow the U.S. model of shortening hospital stays, delegation members said. In Japan, the average hospital stay is 28 days, compared to just four days at GMBC and most other U.S. hospitals. Kido said the Japanese are looking into an incentive system that will reward hospitals that discharge patients earlier.

GMBC officials said they were envious of Japan's ability to provide universal health care, and said the Japanese do a better job of preventing serious disease. They noted that obesity and heart disease are smaller problems in Japan than in the U.S., and that the percentage of the nation's total gross national product spent on health care is just 7 percent, compared to about 15 percent in the U.S. Medical malpractice claims are also a smaller problem in Japan.

It sounds like it's a different way of life in Japan, said Jody Porter, vice president of nursing for GMBC. They have malpractice, but it doesn't seem like they deal with it as much.

The Japanese also sought advice from GBMC officials on how to protect the privacy of patients. Japan is expected to enact its first law governing patient privacy in April, and delegation members said they were uncertain how the law would be received or enforced.

GMBC officials, who are required to follow privacy guidelines by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, told the delegation it should educate its doctors on when patient records should and should not be divulged. And officials said the Japanese should be wary of any marketing groups inquiring about patient data.

Source: The Daily Record (Baltimore)

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