Market Overview

In this research, the improvement of patient’s QOL refers to the various attempts to address challenges faced by outpatients, hospitalized patients, and those in need for nursing care, such as day-to-day difficulties and symptoms deriving from diseases or treatments (such as swelling and hair loss). The survey was carried out to find out the market of products and services that maintain or improve the patient’s QOL.

Support for patient’s QOL can be categorized into social support, physical support, and mental support. The social support includes employment support for patients, various types of life insurances, lifestyle support services, and senior support services that are not covered by long-term care insurance. The physical support indicates products for cancer patients (medical wigs, prosthetic breasts, and tissue expanders for breast reconstruction) and medical elastic stockings to mitigate edema/swelling. From the range of mental support, online communities for patients, disease awareness websites, and ePRO (electronic patient reported outcomes) systems are garnering attention.

Noteworthy Topics

The Market of Senior Support Services Not Covered by the Long-term Care Insurance (Living Assistance, Nursing Care, Transportation Assistance)

Non-insured services, as the name implies, are services that are not covered by long-term care insurance, which are primarily daily living assistance, nursing care, and transportation assistance for elderly persons insured by long-term care insurance. When nursing care insurance is not used, the service content and hours can be flexibly set according to the user's needs and condition. However, since the full cost is borne by the user, the fees are much higher than that of using insured services.

The primary benefit of non-insured nursing services is that it can be used freely, when necessary and without constraints. In addition, it is useful for the elderly people, not only for those that are not certified as requiring support or long-term care, but also for those that needs support although they are not certified because of psychological barriers. Moreover, for the elderly people that are already certified for long-term care and thus using insured-nursing care, such services can be used as the additional service that are to be paid out-of-pocket.
The market size of senior support service market (non-insured services) for FY2022 is estimated at 5 billion yen, based on the amount of user charges.

Future Outlook

The market size of the senior support service (services not covered by long-term care insurance) is forecasted to grow continually hereafter.

According to the "Actual Statistics on Nursing Care Benefit Expenses" by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, less than 10% of both men and women aged between 65 and 79 are receiving nursing care benefits. At present, the non-insured long-term care services are not priced to be readily available. However, as daily support, physical care, and transportation assistance for elderly people that are not yet certified as requiring assistance or nursing care, or for those whose conditions are considered minor, there is potential for growth. To expand the market, it is necessary to create a one-stop online portal that enables users and their families to obtain information on services and social resources for elderly, regardless of whether they are covered by long-term care insurance or not.

Moving forward, the perspective of considering and supporting living environment of each patient (maintaining and improving patient QOL) increases importance further in tandem with the advancement of medical technology and the increase of average life expectancy.

Research Outline