Japan medical device reimbursements will generally go down slightly in 2022, but some new technologies with clear benefits will not.
Discussions on reimbursement revisions in 2022 are being held by the Insurance Medical Material Special Subcommittee of the Central Social Insurance Medical Council (Chuikyo). The subcommittee has been met three times since September, and the presentation material for the meeting on November 12 has been posted on the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare website.
The main agenda includes system designs for proper assessment of innovation, assessment of reimbursement for program medical devices, adjustment of reimbursement prices based on foreign average prices, etc.
The bottom line is that while overall medical device reimbursements will be slightly reduced, the government is constantly striving to give higher prices for highly effective technologies. When discussing good efficacy, it is very important to show not only good outcomes, but also the economic benefits such as shorter hospital stays and lower recurrence rates.
Written by: Ames Gross – President and Founder, Pacific Bridge Medical (PBM)
Mr. Gross founded PBM in 1988 and has helped hundreds of medical companies with regulatory and business development issues in Asia. He is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the Asian medical markets. Mr. Gross has a BA degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University.
Source used in the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8953662/