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Kojiro Tokutake, a gastroenterologist at Nagano Prefectural Suzaka Hospital, right, performs an endoscopic examination on a patient at the hospital in Suzaka, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Close
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Photographer: Ko Sasaki/Bloomberg Kojiro Tokutake, a gastroenterologist at Nagano Prefectural Suzaka Hospital, right, performs an endoscopic examination on a patient at the hospital in Suzaka, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
For the first time, Japan is trying to hold down the number of bedbound elderly people kept alive, sometimes for years, by feeding tubes.
Following news articles by Bloomberg News and others, the government is planning to cut payouts on insertions in new patients and encourage home care. About a quarter-million Japanese elderly live on feeding tubes. Faced with a heavy public debt burden, Japan is trying to curtail growth in a 38.5 trillion yen ($376 billion) annual health bill by releasing patients from hospitals faster.
The health ministry also plans to boost reimbursements to institutions that check swallowing ability and encourage rehabilitation to help the bedridden eat by mouth. The changes, effective April 1, mark the first time Japan has cut government reimbursements for the practice.
The use of feeding tubes at the end of life, which isn’t standard practice in the western world, is common in Japan, the world’s fastest aging society. They often prolong the lives of terminally ill or dementia plagued Japanese elderly, and the ministry says almost a quarter of people nourished via a tube to the stomach were given one without an evaluation.
More than 90 percent of the 260,000 Japanese patients estimated to be fed through a tube are bedbound, according to a survey by Japan’s hospital association. They are, on average, 81 years old and nourished by tube for 2.3 years.
Most of the elderly who get put on stomach tubes in Japan never get taken off them. While almost a quarter of those fed via a tube to the stomach had the potential to eat by mouth again, only about 2 percent of them did so and had the tube removed, according to a study funded by the health ministry.
Japan’s shrinking labor force means there are fewer taxpayers to pay for state-funded care of dependent seniors. A quarter of Japanese are older than 65 years now and by 2060 about 40 percent will fall into that demographic, according to National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
Rehab per session will be doubled to 3,700 yen for hospitals “with an outcome of 35 percent recovery or higher.” The price paid back to stop the feeding and stitch up the incision will rise 17 percent to 140,400 yen. Hospitals performing 50 surgeries a year or more will face a further 20 percent cut in payouts for each new feeding-tube case ’’if they don’t evaluate all cases and the recovery is lower than 35 percent’’ from April next year.
Recuperation hospitals will be encouraged to speed up rehabs to help discharge patients from hospitals quicker, said Yukihiko Ikebata, vice chairman of Japan Association of Medical and Care Facilities, which represents recuperation hospitals.
The new rules recommend a guideline used for stroke patients to assess swallowing ability with feeding tubes cases. That includes practices such as checking throat muscles by having a patient swallow food coated with an imaging agent and see how it travels using X-rays or endoscopes.
Some remain skeptical that the practice to insert a tube, which is so ingrained in medical and nursing culture, will slow anytime soon. The new rules won’t lower the number of new cases as most hospital have less than 50 cases and won’t get an additional 20 percent cut, said Tatsuro Ishizaki, a researcher at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. Japan still needs to have a broad discussion on how to cope with end of life care in an aging society medically, ethically and economically to change the overall situation, said Yoshihiro Takayama, infectious disease specialist at Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital.
The elderly will still benefit from better care as doctors will try to strike a better balance between extending life and improving its quality, said Ichiro Fujishima, director of Hamamatsu City Rehabilitation Hospital and chairman of the Society of Swallowing and Dysphagia of Japan.
“A focus on swallowing evaluation and rehab will encourage doctors to think more about balancing the two and will help patients to be discharged from facilities,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Brecher at jbrecher4@bloomberg.net; Anjali Cordeiro at acordeiro2@bloomberg.net
Following news articles by Bloomberg News and others, the government is planning to cut payouts on insertions in new patients and encourage home care. About a quarter-million Japanese elderly live on feeding tubes. Faced with a heavy public debt burden, Japan is trying to curtail growth in a 38.5 trillion yen ($376 billion) annual health bill by releasing patients from hospitals faster.
The health ministry also plans to boost reimbursements to institutions that check swallowing ability and encourage rehabilitation to help the bedridden eat by mouth. The changes, effective April 1, mark the first time Japan has cut government reimbursements for the practice.
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“Eating is one of the most important human dignities and the country is moving forward to protect it,” said Kazuhiro Nagao, a doctor and deputy director of the Japan Society for Dying with Dignity. The use of feeding tubes at the end of life, which isn’t standard practice in the western world, is common in Japan, the world’s fastest aging society. They often prolong the lives of terminally ill or dementia plagued Japanese elderly, and the ministry says almost a quarter of people nourished via a tube to the stomach were given one without an evaluation.
Changing Demographics
Japan reimburses about 100,700 yen per feeding tube surgery, including cost for kits and 45 minutes of work from three doctors, according to Gaihoren, a group of surgical societies that assesses reimbursements for surgeries.More than 90 percent of the 260,000 Japanese patients estimated to be fed through a tube are bedbound, according to a survey by Japan’s hospital association. They are, on average, 81 years old and nourished by tube for 2.3 years.
Most of the elderly who get put on stomach tubes in Japan never get taken off them. While almost a quarter of those fed via a tube to the stomach had the potential to eat by mouth again, only about 2 percent of them did so and had the tube removed, according to a study funded by the health ministry.
Japan’s shrinking labor force means there are fewer taxpayers to pay for state-funded care of dependent seniors. A quarter of Japanese are older than 65 years now and by 2060 about 40 percent will fall into that demographic, according to National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
Cash Back
Cash reimbursed to hospitals from the national health insurance program for surgically inserting a tube to the stomach will be cut 40 percent to 60,700 yen as of April, while 25,000 yen will be added if a swallowing evaluation is done before the insertion, the health ministry said.Rehab per session will be doubled to 3,700 yen for hospitals “with an outcome of 35 percent recovery or higher.” The price paid back to stop the feeding and stitch up the incision will rise 17 percent to 140,400 yen. Hospitals performing 50 surgeries a year or more will face a further 20 percent cut in payouts for each new feeding-tube case ’’if they don’t evaluate all cases and the recovery is lower than 35 percent’’ from April next year.
Recuperation hospitals will be encouraged to speed up rehabs to help discharge patients from hospitals quicker, said Yukihiko Ikebata, vice chairman of Japan Association of Medical and Care Facilities, which represents recuperation hospitals.
The new rules recommend a guideline used for stroke patients to assess swallowing ability with feeding tubes cases. That includes practices such as checking throat muscles by having a patient swallow food coated with an imaging agent and see how it travels using X-rays or endoscopes.
Better Rehab
The rules require patients, many of them suffering from advanced dementia, to travel to a clinic or a hospital from nursing homes for rehab and could be stressful and risky for them, said Hidehiro Ozeki, chairman of research committee at Japanese Council of Senior Citizens Welfare Service, which represents nursing homes for terminal seniors.Some remain skeptical that the practice to insert a tube, which is so ingrained in medical and nursing culture, will slow anytime soon. The new rules won’t lower the number of new cases as most hospital have less than 50 cases and won’t get an additional 20 percent cut, said Tatsuro Ishizaki, a researcher at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. Japan still needs to have a broad discussion on how to cope with end of life care in an aging society medically, ethically and economically to change the overall situation, said Yoshihiro Takayama, infectious disease specialist at Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital.
Better Balance
While Kanao Tsuji, director of Suidobashi Higashiguchi Clinic in Tokyo, expects the new rules to reduce the number of new cases, he says that feeding the elderly orally will put pressure on homes as the process and preparation can take around 90 minutes.The elderly will still benefit from better care as doctors will try to strike a better balance between extending life and improving its quality, said Ichiro Fujishima, director of Hamamatsu City Rehabilitation Hospital and chairman of the Society of Swallowing and Dysphagia of Japan.
“A focus on swallowing evaluation and rehab will encourage doctors to think more about balancing the two and will help patients to be discharged from facilities,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Brecher at jbrecher4@bloomberg.net; Anjali Cordeiro at acordeiro2@bloomberg.net
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