Referral System

To improve the condition in which the original roles and functions of health care facilities are not realized due to a concentration of patients in general hospitals, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is implementing a division of functions at hospitals and health care clinics as part of its policy.

In this system, patients have a Primary Care Physician (PCP) who best knows the health of the patient and is the physician regularly seen. After receiving an exam from your PCP, you may be referred by your PCP to a health care facility so as to provide the best possible health care.

Under this PCP (or Primary Care Health Care Facility) system, you first receive an exam from a clinic or small- or medium-sized hospital of choice and then receive a referral to visit a large hospital (health care facility with specialized treatment) that can provide highly specialized and advanced care. This division of functions enables an effective use of the functions of each health care facility and enables the facility to provide efficient and optimal care.

Asa Hospital is expected to play a role in providing advanced specialized care as a core regional hospital. If this is your first visit* to Asa Hospital, we appreciate your cooperation with the referral appointment exam from your PCP or other health care facility.

(* A first visit refers to receiving an exam for a condition that is not pre-existing and for which previous treatment was terminated or in the case care was discontinued by the patient.)

If no referral letter from an outside health care facility is provided at the time of your first visit, you will be charged a consultation fee in addition to a non-referral patient first visit fee of 1,610 yen.

Referral Back to the PCP Health Care Facility

The sharing of roles of health care facilities is as stated above; however, in the case that a patient with a referral from a PCP or urgent care patient no longer requires the care of a specialist at Asa Hospital, you will be given a referral back to your PCP for continued care.

In this way, local health care facilities are able to realize a division of functions and cooperate to provide efficient high-quality care as part of a government measure. (Local health care collaboration)

Asa Hospital continues to make efforts to further enhance its functions as a core regional hospital backed by the policies of "promoting the popularization and establishment of PCPs" and "promoting a health care collaboration system focused on the patient" (Hiroshima Health Insurance Health Care Planning).

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with our health care system.