Towards structuring community-based integrated care systems in Japan: Research and Practice

Abstract

How and where to provide end-of-life care to older people in Japan is bound to become a national issue of great concern. 

By 2025, Japanese national and local governments will be entrusted with the responsibility of setting up community-based integrated care systems (CICSs) designed to allow older citizen who need care to stay in their own community and lead dignified, independent lives. However, in spite of the many efforts made to rationalize and improve the performance and quality of the CICSs, only a limited degree of success has so far been achieved. This paper reviews researches and practices, including the author’s experiences, related to structuring community-based integrated care systems in Japan. I also propose a conceptual model of dissemination of community-based interprofessional education, which is made up of the following bodies: medical school, regional CICS, local CICS. The author defines the relationship between medical schools and communities as education and research “E&R”. In the future, more in-depth empirical, qualitative, and quantitative assessments of the authenticity of the model will be needed.