JM Integral Completes Niigata Prefecture's 'After-hours and Holiday Medical Consultation Pilot Project Using Online Medical Consultations'

JM Integral Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Daishi Izumi), which supports regional healthcare DX, has completed the 'After-hours and Holiday Medical Consultation Pilot Project Using Online Medical Consultations' implemented by Niigata Prefecture. While after-hours and holiday emergency centers in Niigata Prefecture play a crucial role in providing primary emergency care in the region, they face various challenges such as difficulty in securing doctors and congestion due to patient concentration during specific periods. This project was implemented to solve these challenges by promoting the introduction and utilization of online medical consultations, aiming to maintain and strengthen the regional healthcare delivery system. In this project, the company provided necessary technical support related to the introduction and utilization of online medical consultations to model demonstration facilities. As a result, the target medical institutions were able to organize business processes and role allocations assuming the implementation of online medical consultations, building a foundation for future implementation.

■ Project Overview

After-hours and holiday emergency centers in Niigata Prefecture play a crucial role in providing primary emergency care in the region, but face various challenges such as difficulty in securing doctors and congestion due to patient concentration during specific periods. This project was implemented to solve these challenges by promoting the introduction and utilization of online medical consultations, aiming to maintain and strengthen the regional healthcare delivery system. In this project, technical support related to the introduction and utilization of online medical consultations was provided to after-hours and holiday emergency centers that expressed interest in utilizing online medical consultations to solve their challenges. Furthermore, the project aimed to share information and raise awareness about the knowledge and usage examples gained through the efforts of model demonstration facilities, with a view to expanding to other areas within the prefecture, thereby promoting initiatives within the prefecture. Specifically, based on the demonstration of the online medical consultation utilization model in after-hours and holiday medical care, the project aimed to identify elements necessary for building a sustainable system in the region, and to disseminate information about the methods and effects of utilizing online medical consultations in after-hours and holiday medical care to areas within the prefecture, promoting horizontal expansion.

■ Our Implementation Details

In this project, our company provided end-to-end support to the target medical institutions, which were the model demonstration facilities, from identifying issues for introducing online medical consultations to operational design, checking equipment and communication environments, conducting rehearsals using simulated patients, and creating operational materials and introduction support manuals. Based on the regional healthcare issues and needs of the target medical institutions, we considered how online medical consultations could be utilized, and then organized the roles and collaboration systems of doctors, nurses, and administrative staff. We also organized the flow of a series of medical consultation processes, including reception, pre-consultation questionnaires, appointment management, video call consultations, prescriptions, and follow-up responses, assuming actual operations. Furthermore, we conducted rehearsals using simulated patients, providing opportunities for doctors, nurses, administrative staff, and other personnel to confirm patient response procedures, information sharing methods, system operations, and inter-professional collaboration methods in a flow close to actual operations. After the rehearsals, based on opinions received from stakeholders and operational issues identified, we reviewed the medical consultation flow, role allocations, and patient response methods. In addition, we developed manuals that clearly document response procedures for each job type, such as doctors, nurses, and administrative staff, as well as materials explaining how to use online medical consultations for patients. Regarding the patient-oriented video content created by the prefectural government, we assisted in confirming the structure and organizing the content as explanations of the flow and usage of online medical consultations. The knowledge gained from this project was systematically organized into the 'Online Medical Consultation Introduction Support Manual' for sharing and utilization within Niigata Prefecture.

■ Project Results

The results of this project can be summarized into two points: establishing an implementation framework at the target medical institutions (model demonstration facilities) and developing knowledge and materials that can be referenced by stakeholders within the prefecture.

Establishing an Implementation Framework at Target Medical Institutions

This led to preparing the target medical institutions to be able to consider and start implementing online medical consultations on their own when needed, towards maintaining and strengthening the regional healthcare delivery system in after-hours and holiday medical care. Specifically, through discussions with in-hospital stakeholders, we organized role allocations, medical consultation flows, patient response procedures, information sharing methods, and operational considerations for implementing online medical consultations at the target medical institutions. In particular, we provided opportunities for doctors, nurses, administrative staff, and other personnel to confirm the series of processes including pre-consultation questionnaires, video call consultations, prescriptions, and follow-up responses, assuming actual operations, thereby clarifying the specific business processes for implementing online medical consultations. Furthermore, through rehearsals using simulated patients, we confirmed whether the organized medical consultation flows and job-specific response procedures would function in actual operational settings. Based on the operational issues identified in the rehearsals and opinions received from stakeholders, we reviewed the medical consultation flows, role allocations, and patient response methods, leading to the organization of procedures assuming actual operations. Based on the content organized in the demonstration, we created manuals that clearly document response procedures for each job type and materials explaining how to use online medical consultations for patients. This allowed us to develop operational materials that can be commonly referenced within the hospital and materials that can be used for patient explanations.

Development of Knowledge and Materials Referable by Prefectural Stakeholders

The knowledge gained from this project was systematically organized into the 'Online Medical Consultation Introduction Support Manual' as knowledge and materials that can be referenced by stakeholders within the prefecture. This manual aims to systematically organize the series of processes (from issue identification, stakeholder consultation, system building, to the start of operations) necessary for stakeholders such as municipalities, medical institutions, and medical associations to consider and introduce the use of online medical consultations for regional healthcare issues, and to provide guidelines for smooth and safe introduction. In particular, it summarizes practical procedures for building a sustainable system by appropriately combining online medical consultations to address common regional healthcare issues such as securing doctors, securing nurses, patient flow challenges, and the burden of travel on residents in the primary emergency care system during after-hours and holidays. Through this, the project supported the establishment of an implementation framework for online medical consultations at the target medical institutions, and also led to the development of knowledge and materials that can be referenced by stakeholders within the prefecture when considering and introducing the use of online medical consultations.

■ Comment from Representative Director Daishi Izumi

I am very honored to have been able to work with the people of Niigata Prefecture to verify the potential of using online medical consultations in after-hours and holiday medical care and to work on building an operational system tailored to the field. In this project, we focused not only on introducing the mechanism of online medical consultations but also on ensuring that the doctors, nurses, administrative staff, and others who are actually responsible for operations in the field specifically understand their roles and response procedures, and that the entire organization confirms the feasibility of implementation. The challenges of securing doctors and responding to patient concentration in after-hours and holiday medical care are common to many regions across the country. I hope that the knowledge and the introduction support manual gained from this project will be utilized in other areas within Niigata Prefecture that face similar challenges.