Home > Corporate > Communication > Special Interview: Bringing Together Technologies and Expertise to Create Synergy—Towards a Health-Supporting Company

LSI Medience Corporation
President and CEO
Haruo Watanabe

PHC Corporation Member of Board,
Director of the Medical Information
Systems (Medicom) Division
Takayuki Otsuka

Bringing Together Technologies and Expertise to Create Synergy—
Towards a Health-Supporting Company

In August 2019, LSI Medience Corporation (hereafter “LSIM”) joined the PHC Group. The synergy between PHC Corporation that promotes healthcare IT, and Japan’s top-class testing company is attracting great attention. We invited the leaders from the two Group companies for an interview on their views and ambitions.

Strengthening the Healthcare IT Business—
The High Hopes for Development Are Exciting

─ Could you tell us how both of you feel about LSIM and Medicom being together in the PHC Group?

Watanabe:One of our company’s main pillar is the clinical testing business, which has deep ties with Medicom. About 2,000 out of 3,500 employees are involved here, and I think this clinical testing business has close affinity with Medicom’s electronic medical record (EMR) systems.
I have high expectations that a new business model for “utilizing testing information” will be completed, as we become a member of the PHC Group and integrate our clinical testing with Medicom’s knowhow on healthcare IT.
This means a significant contribution to Japan’s healthcare, and it’s very worthwhile. I definitely want efforts and cooperation from both sides to develop new businesses. Our challenge is to attract as many customers as we can, and I’m looking forward to that.

Otsuka:I believe the healthcare solutions business in Japan will become really exciting, because Medicom, that has been the healthcare IT service provider for medical institutions for 48 years, and LSIM with the main business in clinical testing, are now in the same group. This has great significance in the aging society, leading to the strengthening and development of the PHC Group’s testing/diagnostics and healthcare IT businesses. By utilizing the customer base in the two companies, and bringing technologies and expertise from both sides, we can expect various synergies with our existing businesses and provide newer values to our customers.
For example, if LSIM’s clinical testing and Medicom’s IT solutions are linked, and the procedures from test application to result report are digitized, the medical institution can streamline their workflow, while patients can digitally manage their test history.

New Business Models Expected Where Knowhow Meets Systems
Also Contributes to Japan’s Healthcare

─ Specifically, what kind of value do you think you can offer to the customer healthcare professionals, or for patient services in the future?

Watanabe:Customers need “fast and accurate results” for testing. It’s also our mission to meet this request. Now that we are together with Medicom, we are expecting to further promote digitization to streamline workflow, and promptly provide precise test information to customers. It would be wonderful if we can expand this new added value across Japan.
From the point of patient service, I think the “shift from paper to digital” is important. The testing equipment and diagnostic tools these days have developed and become highly precise. For example, tomographic images of a brain are taken in millimeter units, and you can gain a huge amount of information. Some years back, the results would just say “nothing abnormal detected” on a piece of paper. Now, all information can be provided digitally. Going forward, I believe laboratory test results will also be similarly disclosed as digital data.
It’s essential to always see from the customer’s perspective, and continue to provide best-in-class precision and digital solutions.

Otsuka:I think Medicom and LSIM have overlapping customers in a number of clinics. At these places, we’ve been separately providing tests and EMR systems. But as President Watanabe has mentioned, if the two companies collaborate, we can definitely provide information much faster to medical institutions.
Furthermore, EMR systems can also incorporate clinical testing data. By promoting healthcare IT and digitization, we can offer new value that allows doctors to utilize medical data for various purposes.
In Japan overall, rising of medical expenses and cost of care is inevitable to some extent. But with greater efficiency through healthcare IT, I believe we can contribute to reducing medical expenses.

LSI Medience Corporation President and CEO Haruo Watanabe

─ The PHC Group has a corporate mission “to create healthcare solutions that have a positive impact and improve the lives of people.” What do you think is necessary to become the top-class global healthcare company?

Valuable Big-Data for Health and Medical Care—
Making Best Use Is Our Challenge

Watanabe:We need a speedy transformation. As you know, various changes are taking place not only in the healthcare industry, but all around us. For example, like they say “the 100-year life,” the number of centenarians was 12,000 in 2000, which increased to over 70,000 in 2019. And it is estimated to exceed 500,000 in 2050. A super-aging society indeed.
In the super-aging society that requires lifestyles and medical care for healthy living, we need to consider what we can do in healthcare business. One answer is utilizing big data.
It is crucial to consider how we can utilize medical data for over 100,000 or 1 million people for health and medical care. That’s why instead of leaving test results on paper, we want to link them with EMR and medical-receipt systems and manage and utilize as big data. Of course, we need to create the infrastructure for protecting personal information and privacy, but I believe one of our social contributions as a healthcare company is big data utilization.
Furthermore, by uniting and linking Medicom’s products and our clinical testing, we can expect enhanced prevention of medical incidents and accidents. This would be contributing to patient-centered healthcare.

PHC Corporation Member of Board, Director of the Medical Information Systems (Medicom) Division Takayuki Otsuka

Creation of “Personal Health Data” to Protect Your Own Health

Otsuka:I absolutely agree about transformation. When Medicom was born 48 years ago, there were no computers in medical institutions, and everything was done on paper. Now, it’s normal to have PCs, and mobile devises are also being used. In the aging society, the main diseases have shifted from acute to chronic ones.
As transformation in society progresses, I think there are several requirements for achieving the company’s corporate mission. First, as I mentioned before, is providing value to medical institutions, and second is contributing to patients.
Healthcare until now started when the patient visited a medical institution. But when we think about the issue in medical policy for “maintaining a healthy condition for long as possible,” I believe personal health data will become essential. And health data is actually included in test results and EMR systems.
Additionally, a person’s health is their own concern, so it would be good to have a system on which patients can properly see their personal health data. By creating that system with LSIM, I believe we can realize contribution to patients. If we globally expand the knowhow we accumulated in Japan, we can build the foundation as a global healthcare company.

─ Lastly, what are your impressions of the other company?

Otsuka:I feel that at LSIM, everyone is aware of the company’s social mission and significance, and each employee is determined to perform their responsibilities. I think this reflects the weight of the social responsibility of LSIM’s business. Most of all, I think it’s wonderful that they care about the concept of work and the work attitude.

Watanabe:I had the opportunity to visit PHC Corporation’s Head Office as well as the Matsuyama and Gunma Sites, and I had the impression that we have similar corporate culture. For example, at Matsuyama, there is the Inai Memorial Museum exhibiting the history of the products developed by the hard efforts of the predecessors since the company’s foundation till now. I felt the history of manufacturing was being handed down, and the spirit still lives on. New transformation is added to history, and I believe that shapes the future.
At Gunma, the attitude of the employees that welcomed us were splendid. I felt they were always prepared to sincerely respond to customers.

Otsuka:I am humbled by such compliments. From now on, we will work together as members of the same Group, to offer the value of health to society and people.

Watanabe:Yes, we’ll move forward together..

About LSI Medience

In the testing and analysis area of healthcare, we utilize our years of expertise and cutting-edge technology across clinical testing, diagnostic reagents, and drug development support businesses. Through medical science, we seek to contribute to the creation of a healthy and secure society.

URL: www.medience.co.jp/english/index.html

About Medicom

Since developing and launching the first medical-receipt computer in Japan in 1972, the Medicom Division has worked to improve medical services for patients and work efficiency for healthcare professionals by providing electronic medical record systems and other healthcare IT products and services under the Medicom brand.

URL: www.phchd.com/jp/medicom (Japanese website)