Pressure on Medical and Nursing Care Institutions from Broad-Based Price Increases

「Although the environment surrounding medical and nursing care remained difficult due to continued inflation, the government implemented the FY2025 supplementary budget's large-scale "Medical, Nursing Care and Other Support Package" to improve operating conditions. In addition, positive revisions to medical fees were approved at 3.09% for the core portion and 2.22% in total, including drug prices. The core portion exceeded 3% for the first time in 30 years, while the total increase was the first in 12 years. In addition, nursing-care fees, which were not originally scheduled for revision this year, underwent an extraordinary 2.03% revision to improve worker待遇 and address rising prices.」

「To improve the business environment, the government implemented the fiscal 2025 supplementary budget's large-scale Medical, Nursing Care and Other Support Package.」

「In addition, surging prices and higher personnel costs have had a major impact not only on medical and nursing-care institutions but also on industry suppliers, and difficult conditions continue across the market as a whole.」

「The healthcare and long-term care environment remains difficult, as the increases from the positive medical and long-term care fee revisions implemented the previous year were absorbed by continued increases in prices and labor costs, making no contribution to improving operating conditions at healthcare and long-term care institutions and further worsening operating indicators.」

「Regarding the environment surrounding medical care and nursing care, the operating environment for medical facilities and other institutions became extremely difficult because, in addition to higher expenses for materials and utilities due to inflation, patient numbers declined and income fell following the end of subsidies for COVID-19 countermeasures.」

「This fiscal year is the year of the simultaneous revision of medical service fees and nursing care fees. The basic medical service fee increased by 0.88%, and nursing care fees increased by 1.59%, so both revisions were positive and the difficult operating environment is expected to ease. However, substantial allocations have also been made to improve the treatment of medical and nursing care workers, and concerns about the pressure that rising prices over the past several years have placed on medical and nursing care institutions have not been completely dispelled. Concerns therefore remain about an improvement in the operating environment.」

「Medical and nursing-care institutions continued to operate in a difficult environment, following the previous fiscal year, amid higher prices and utility costs.」

「The operating environment has become increasingly difficult as a result of the sharp rise in prices, which has increased procurement burdens at medical and nursing-care facilities. In addition, labor costs are a major concern as efforts to improve workers'待遇, requested by the government against the backdrop of work-style reform, have coincided with labor shortages.」

「Due to ongoing inflation, including surging prices for various goods and higher personnel expenses, the operating environment across the industry, including not only medical and nursing-care institutions but also industry suppliers, has rapidly become more difficult.」

「Meanwhile, as the prices of various goods continue to rise amid inflation and wages for medical and nursing-care workers also increase, the operating environment for medical and nursing-care facilities has begun to deteriorate rapidly.」

「Although patient apparel in peripheral markets is currently beginning to stabilize, the peripheral market also recorded a 7.9% year-on-year decline in revenue, affected by the temporary curtailment of new material purchases by linen suppliers due to higher fuel costs for laundry.」

「Although the medical and nursing-care industries are expected to regain stability following the COVID-19 pandemic, concern remains that surging prices will put pressure on the management of medical and nursing-care institutions.」