Accenture to help Fukuoka City rethink the current health and welfare policies of its aging population

TOKYO, Japan, 17-Jul-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has helped Fukuoka City establish the strategic plan for “Fukuoka 100 ~ Living Healthy for 100-Years” initiatives to support the health and long-term care of its aging population.

Fukuoka’s citizens are aging rapidly, with approximately one in four citizens expected to be at least 65 years old in 2025, with more than one in three to be at least 65 by 2040. Taking such rapid change into consideration, Fukuoka and Accenture have worked together to rethink the current health and welfare policies. Additionally, they are working to address seven strategic actions within the design of a sustainable health and long-term care model – combining advanced digital innovation with health, medical and welfare systems with the active participation of citizens to enable citizens to lead healthy and independent lives.

“Fukuoka 100 ~Living Healthy for 100-Years” Actions Overview

• Citywide Caregivers: Provide evidence-based care while improving productivity by implementing a dementia communication care methodology. The city-wide program deepens citizens’ understanding of dementia, encourages all citizens and local enterprises to support the patients and eases the existing caregivers’ burden to improve patients’ quality of life.
• Integrated Health Hub: Build an integrated platform that provides a single access point for a citizen’s health, medical and livelihood data, encouraging citizens to take proactive actions for health and leverage interactions with lay caregivers. This is provided with utmost attention to protect privacy.
• Digital Medical Home Era: Establish a home-care structure that augments traditional care services with advanced digital tools, such as virtual care and online medical interviews.
• Wellness Lab: Establish “Fukuoka Health Lab” where citizens, local enterprises, universities and government organizations can collaborate and design a city where citizens can enjoy and naturally improve their lives in a healthful environment. Paying the utmost care to protect privacy, Fukuoka City will collect and accumulate data that will lead to healthcare service development and assessment.
• Multi-Generational Community Model: Develop a community where all members can contribute their abilities and willingness, instead of letting age and gender define “the supporters” and “the supported.” The model support citizens, especially in their 40s, 50s and above, to find a new way of life as a contributing member of the community.
• “CareTech” Program: Establish a “Care Tech Alliance (Consortium)” to support healthcare startups which can collaborate with a “Fukuoka Health Lab” to promote open innovation by hosting ideathons and matching events, and encourage development and commercialization of healthcare technology.
• Center of Excellence for Aging Care: Build a care academy in Fukuoka City to serve as a hub for healthcare talents in Asia for care of the aging population.

In addition, Accenture and Fukuoka have developed a city-wide plan for caring and communicating with patients who have dementia. The effort deployed pilot programs of “Humanitude®,” a care method that emphasizes the use of eye contact, touch and verbal cues to convey respect for a patient. Working with Digital Sensation to deploy training for professionals widely in Fukuoka City, Accenture introduced the care method across five institutions (hospitals and nursing homes) and their staff. Having observed potential improvement in the patients’ behavioral and psychological symptoms with little extra burden to the staff, Fukuoka will continue the pilot programs through this fiscal year and expand the number of participating institutions and training sessions.

“We are delighted to be able to play a role in Fukuoka City’s important project that will define its future as an age-friendly city. Japan is aging faster than any other country in the world,” said Hiroshi Goto, who leads Accenture H&PS in Japan. “I am confident that this project will set a leading example to other towns and cities facing challenges associated with aging populations and rising social security expenses.

Accenture will help Fukuoka City’s transformation by leveraging its experience and insights acquired from having helped numerous local governments and health-related companies around the world.”

Takuya Nakamura, Executive Director of Advanced Health Promotion Strategy for Fukuoka City’s Public Health & Welfare Bureau added, “Fukuoka City is actively addressing the challenges of aging communities by creating programs such as the ‘Comprehensive Vision Regarding Seniors’ Health and Welfare’ and ‘Comprehensive Plan on Health and Welfare.’ ‘Fukuoka 100’ being an initiative for finding new solutions to such challenges, together with its citizens, corporate, and academia, we hope to make Fukuoka City a pioneering model for other major cities by delivering sustainable social system for its aging citizens and those in need.”

Details of “Fukuoka 100 ~Living Healthy for 100-Years” are available at http://100.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/ (in Japanese only).

About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 411,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Contact:

Kazumi Yamada
Accenture
+ 81 45 330 7157
kazumi.yamada@accenture.com

Jenn Francis
Accenture Health
+ 1 312 693 4411
jennifer.francis@accenture.com
SOURCE: Acccenture