The Role of Pharmacists in the Japanese Integrated Community Care System / 社会薬学

ABSTRACT

<p>Aging society has been progressed in Japan, so that it is projected that one in four is an elderly person and that demands of medical and nursing care show a marked increase in the near future. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) targets to create the Integrated Community Care System (ICCS) in each community to realize every person can live a life with dignity even in the progressive aging society by 2025 when the demands of medical and nursing care will be jumped up caused by the baby boom generation will reach their age of 75. In the ICCS, the function and role of pharmacies/pharmacists are expected to be different from the current ones. Therefore, pharmacies/pharmacists have to find their appropriate function and role in the ICCS, and also have to adapt themselves smoothly to the progressive aging society even though no one in the world has an experience.The MHLW introduced Pharmacy Vision for Patients on October of 2015, and also has established the new pharmacy reimbursement program “Your Pharmacist Reimbursed Program” on April of 2016 as the first step to cope with the progressive aging society at 2025. In this manuscript, I will introduce the new MHLW policies for Pharmacies/pharmacists. And also I will consider the needs for pharmacies/pharmacists and the function and role that they have to fulfill in the ICCS.</p>