Japan Healthcare Info

JHI is featured in this week’s Metropolis magazine – it’s out today. I must say I was really excited when Metropolis called JHI! Good article, short and clear – describing the essence of our services.

We sometimes receive requests asking for the hospital list of English-speaking doctors. Sure it would be easier if we had a list on our site so that people can choose a hospital from, but JHI choose not to do this due to the following reasons

1. Availability of English-speaking doctors changes frequently in some hospitals/clinics
   This is really common in many places due to the shortage of staff or doctor’s schedule.
2. Even if the hospital is international, doesn’t mean that all the doctors there can speak English
   Some hospitals are named as “XX international Hospital”, not always as international as the name is.
3. Depending on the condition of a patient and the level of doctor’s English, even if the doctor is English-speaking, he/she may not be able to provide the treatment client needs
   When we make coordination doctors often ask the patients’ condition. If it is simple like flu, they say OK,  but if it is a kind of chronic disease or a condition requires a complex care, often they say “English is not available”.
4. If the hospital/clinic is constantly busy, they don’t welcome patients who doesn’t speak much Japanese
   It takes longer to communicate in a foreign language, therefore English-speaking patients are not welcomed.
5. We have no GP in Japan, so patients choose a specialist according to their symptom
   Even if you find an English clinic near your house on the list, doesn’t mean they can provide the care you need if you visit a wrong specialist.

JHI staff always ask clients’ needs and checks with hospitals/clinics whether they can REALLY provide the care clients need. Sometimes it seems troublesome to send a message/call us to obtain information, but in fact it is much quicker this way than seeing a list and ends up visiting a wrong hospital!

We received new feedback from our clients!!

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#1

In a country where the language barrier plays a big obstacle to expats when needing to find a medical service, I was delighted to find Japan Health Information.

I have used the services of this wonderful non-profit making organisation twice to help me locate suitable medical clinics and I have never been disappointed with their recommendations.  I would never have found the places they recommended without their help.

JHI has launched a new service for tourists, collaborating with FINDJPN.
http://findjpn.com/

We receive enquiries from overseas, such as “I have a chronic illness and I need to know hospitals that can provide specific treatment while I am in Japan”, or “I am pregnent, and I want to be prepared in case anything happens“.

For such requests, we provide medical assistance including locating English-speaking doctors and making appointments for 10 days and it only costs 1,000 yen/person!
This assistance fee is not refundable even if you have no medical help during the trip, but if anything happens clients can reach JHI every day from 9am-9pm and we will give necessary advice or make coordination with hospitals.

We believe our new service can help tourists travel Japan comfortably. Getting sick and not being able to do much while you are travelling is the last thing you want to experience when you are in overseas…we can help!

To purchase the plan, visit http://findjpn.com/top/category/insurance

JHI posted an article about “Health Checkups” on Surviving in Japan. We wrote more detailed version of where and how to take checkups for SiJ Blog

http://www.survivingnjapan.com/2011/11/healthcare-in-japan-checkup-options.html#more

It’s been a while since you took the final checkup? Contact us and we will find out cost and time saving options for you!

Our service was introduced in a popular web site “Surviving in Japan”!
Surviving in Japan has a wealth of resources and helpful information living in Japan without much Japanese.

Here is the article…

http://www.survivingnjapan.com/

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Need help finding (or calling) a doctor in Japan? Try this resource.

If you don’t speak or understand Japanese very well, trying to find a doctor or health care provider may be difficult at times (I’ve been there). How do you find someone who speaks English? Is there anyone in your location who does? What about the trouble of setting up an appointment in Japanese (even if the doctor speaks English, often the receptionists don’t)?

Japan Healthcare Info, a newer, non-profit organization, has stepped in to fill the gap. You’ll find a host of information regarding medical care in Japan on their website, including a long list of English/Japanese translations of common phrases and terms used at the doctor or pharmacy. Some of the info (such as schedules, costs, etc.) may differ slightly from what is true in your location, (currently, much of it is referenced from the Kanto region) but feel free to send them an email with info from what is most common in your region.

In addition to general medical information, JHI also provides various services to assist foreigners, including, but not limited to:

• Finding and locating hospitals or clinics and doctors to meet your specific requests (such as English-speaking, a clinic to potentially match your prescription from home, etc.) This service is free.

• Setting up appointments. Service fee ¥1000.

• Preparing Japanese documents, such as hospital/day care admission or application for insurance benefits Service fee ¥3000-5000.

• Interpreter services via phone

• Possible in-person interpreter services (please inquire for more details about this one, fees vary)

Feel free to contact them if you need help with something specific not listed above.

JHI also offers a monthly/yearly membership fee, which provides unlimited use of their services and a members-only contact number for emergencies. The monthly fee is 1000 yen and the yearly fee (students only) is 5000 yen. They accept payments via bank transfer (furikomi), Paypal, or cash.

They welcome any inquiries regarding health care services via phone (080-4421-7477) or email (contact@japanhealthinfo.com). Hours are 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday and during that time they respond to enquiries within 30-60 minutes. On weekends they won’t be able to respond to emails within the same time frame but will try to respond same day.

So if you’re stuck, trying to find a doctor or dentist, not sure where to get your prescription filled, or need to set up an appointment, you might find JHI a big help.

Has anyone used their services before? Any comments?

Just a note: I wasn’t asked or reimbursed in any way to write this post. They sent me a message asking for a link, and I checked out their website and emailed back and forth with the director. I decided to write a post about their service because I think it would be very helpful to a lot of folks (and I’ve been there myself, so I wish they would have been around when I first arrived in Japan!)

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I particularly like the last comment. We really didn’t ask/pay them for the post. We are very happy that they find our service helpful.We will continue to do our best to provide a quality healthcare service assistance for international population living in Japan.

We will start our telephone service from today!

Call us at 080-4421-7477 between 9am and 5pm, Mon-Fri.

You are welcome to ask us about health care providers or health care related services in Tokyo/Kanto area.
We can help you with the following example enquiries. Bilingual medical coordinaters will answer your enquiries.

• I want to see an English-speaking doctor.
• I want to find a clinic that I can go today.
• I may be pregnant. I want to know what to do about pregnancy and childbirth inJapan.
• I want to find a family doctor/pediatrician near my house
• I want to get reimbursement for my medical expense.
• I want to find about daycare/kindergarten, or other child care services in my local area

This is what we do after receiving your enquiry

1. We will find detailed information of  the provider, including maps and how to get there and send the information to you via email or phone. 
2. After you make an enquiry, we will get back to you with the information within 30-60 min unless the enquiry is complicated/difficult to handle. 
3.  It is free of charge until coordination tasks, such as making appointments are required

Email us or call 080-4421-7477