Solving Pediatrician Shortage in 5-Year-Old Health Checks via Online System: Kids Public and Showa Village, Gunma, Launch New Remote Pediatrician Model After Pilot Program

Kids Public Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Naoya Hashimoto), operator of 'Obstetrics, Gynecology & Pediatrics Online,' has partnered with Showa Village, Gunma Prefecture (Village Chief: Koichiro Takahashi), to conduct trials and evaluations of an 'Online-Integrated 5-Year-Old Health Check' aimed at safeguarding and enhancing the healthy growth and development of preschool children. Based on the results of this pilot, the initiative will now be fully launched starting this fiscal year.

This initiative addresses challenges in 5-year-old health checks—such as difficulty securing pediatricians and information sharing among multiple professions—by leveraging digital technology to build a high-quality follow-up system. After comparing and evaluating in-person checks in November 2025 with phased online participation by pediatricians culminating in fully remote participation by February 2026, we report that online implementation maintained high parental satisfaction while improving coordination among specialists.

Background and Purpose: Showa Village's Commitment to Supporting Children's Development Before School Entry

In current maternal and child health systems, support and developmental monitoring are often lacking between the completion of 3-year-old health checks and school-entry health assessments. To ensure all children can enter school with confidence alongside their families, the Children and Families Agency is promoting standardization and system development of 5-year-old health checks focused on social development evaluation, developmental disorder screening, and health promotion.

However, the implementation rate of 5-year-old health checks remains low nationwide, with securing pediatricians and achieving high-quality interdisciplinary collaboration posing major barriers. Additionally, because 5-year-old health checks primarily aim to assess developmental progress, establishing a comprehensive examination system—including securing necessary professionals and building follow-up mechanisms for children requiring support—remains a challenge.

To address this, Showa Village, Gunma—already offering online pediatric consultations—conducted a pilot program from November 2025 to February 2026, holding three rounds of 5-year-old health checks that included online pediatrician consultations, to establish a system for assessing children at this critical age when they begin to communicate with others.

This project was implemented to verify whether online systems could effectively support not only individual growth and development assessments but also social development through behavioral observation, enabling early therapeutic interventions for children in need.

The use of online tools in this initiative is not merely for efficiency. It was implemented with a strong focus on improving the quality of health checks to ensure children can enter school life healthily. Through this pilot, it was confirmed that online systems are effective for early therapeutic support and detailed monitoring, leading to the decision to fully implement this initiative starting this fiscal year.

Kids Public will continue to support the development of systems that enable children in Showa Village to start elementary school with confidence, by promoting comprehensive observation at this critical age of five and supporting community-wide growth through a new model of 5-year-old health checks with remote pediatrician participation.

Overview of the 5-Year-Old Health Check in Showa Village, Gunma

Implementation Overview of the 'Online-Integrated 5-Year-Old Health Check'

In this pilot, Kids Public coordinated the overall effort, establishing a 'hybrid model' of health checks that connected on-site staff from Showa Village—including public health nurses, childcare workers, psychologists, and physical therapists (PTs)—with pediatricians from clinics affiliated with Kids Public via online platforms.

【Preparation: Multifaceted Data Integration (Web Questionnaires)】

Prior to implementation, informed consent was obtained from parents, with careful attention to personal information protection. Web questionnaires were distributed to parents and childcare workers, and information from public health nurses was collected to digitally integrate children's home and daycare environments in advance. This allowed assigned pediatricians to access comprehensive, multidimensional information before the check-up.

【On the Day: Real-Time Collaborative Examination】

Across the three check-ups, the format evolved from fully in-person to fully online pediatrician participation. Ultimately, on-site staff (public health nurses, childcare workers, PTs, psychologists) directly interacted with children, conducting physical and behavioral observations. Pediatricians participated online, reviewing integrated data and real-time input from the field to conduct examinations and consultations.

【Online Multidisciplinary Coordination Meeting】

Immediately after each check-up, on-site staff and education board representatives held coordination meetings. Pediatricians also joined online to determine individualized support plans for each child on the spot. Decisions were then communicated to parents by public health nurses.

Evaluation Results: Maintaining Parental Satisfaction While Improving Quality and Speed of Collaboration

For the 5-year-old health checks in Showa Village, Gunma, we compared and evaluated parental survey results from three rounds: the first on November 18, 2025 (fully in-person), the second on January 20, 2026 (pediatricians on-site but participating online during checks), and the third on February 20, 2026 (pediatricians participating online only).

◯ Parental Satisfaction: Delivering 'Reassurance' Even Online

Even when pediatricians conducted checks online, no respondents selected 'dissatisfied' in the parental satisfaction survey—matching the in-person results (combined 'very satisfied,' 'satisfied,' and 'neutral' responses totaled 100%).

It was confirmed that parental satisfaction remained high and on par with in-person checks, even with online implementation.

▼ Responses on Overall Satisfaction with the Health Check and Consultation with the Doctor

No dissatisfaction responses in either in-person or online implementation rounds (combined 'very satisfied,' 'satisfied,' 'neutral' = 100%)

◯ Stakeholder Collaboration: Ensuring Coordination Through Digital Integration

In checks where pediatricians participated online, cloud services were used to enable real-time sharing of on-site observations, allowing even remote pediatricians to stay informed. This suggests that smooth collaboration among specialists is possible even without in-person attendance.

▼ Responses to 'Was coordination with other professionals (information handover and sharing) smooth during the check-up?'

The first round, which did not use cloud-based sharing, was excluded from evaluation.

Second round ('Pediatricians on-site but participating online during check-up'):

Very smooth, smooth, neutral: 78% (7/9), somewhat difficult, difficult: 22% (2/9)

Third round ('Pediatricians participating online only'):

Very smooth, smooth, neutral: 100% (9/9), somewhat difficult, difficult: 0% (0/9)

The results suggest that the online model succeeded because participants could 'verify information in real time via the system,' even without in-person attendance.

Future Outlook

Building on insights gained from this pilot in Showa Village, we will further enhance maternal and child health policies centered on 5-year-old health checks. Kids Public will support the establishment of the 'Showa Village Model,' where multidisciplinary teams work as one to support each child's healthy development, overcoming geographical constraints and physician shortages through technology.

Comment from a Public Health Nurse, Showa Village, Gunma

During school-entry health checks, families often face difficult decisions about their child's upcoming school life as their child reaches the important milestone of becoming a first grader. We see many families struggling with these choices.