Health technology assessment in Japan: a work in progress

Abstract

Background: In Japan, pharmacoeconomic requirements for list-price adjustment were institutionalized in April 2019 following provisional implementation of a new Health Technology Assessment (HTA) program 2016–2019. Since April 2019, submission of cost-effectiveness evidence to the Central Social Insurance Medical Council (Chuikyo) as part of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare has been mandatory for selected pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Methods: Based on a review of publications and commentaries since April 2019, together with views from a group of experts on key issues to be addressed, this report provides an update on recent HTA developments and key challenges still to be addressed.

Results and Discussion: Japan’s new HTA program is a first step toward development of a universal healthcare system that can be sustainable for many years into the future. Currently, Japan’s HTA program requires provision of incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) as evidence, with quality-adjusted life years as the preferred outcome measure. Prices can be adjusted both upward and downward according to the degree of the ICER estimate. Japan is the first country to have adopted an algorithmic method for “ICER-based” pricing; however, HTA measures that extend beyond a single ICER estimate are needed to take full advantage of HTA in the future. In particular, generation of evidence of value should support changes to the healthcare system so that incentives for innovation are not diminished while industry and government are not overburdened by the generation or assessment of evidence. There is a need to ensure scientifically sound HTA expertise across all sectors in Japan, and therefore enhancement of HTA literacy and capability among healthcare professionals, academia, government, and industry should be a priority.     

How to gain image and positioning on social media: Spanish agribusiness firm image and position on social media

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to obtain insights into how agribusiness firms can gain image recognition and positioning on SM and, in doing so, determine the images that can increase or diminish their positions on SM and predict the frequency of an image’s visibility on SM. This article uses data collected from a large number of Spanish agribusiness firms of the agrarian, agrifood and wine subsectors, located in rural peripheral areas or urban cores, to identify their images and positioning on social media. We use the Tagxedo digital tool to show the distinctive images of agribusiness firms on SM. Using the Howsociable digital tool and observing the SM key performance indicators (KPI), we measure the traffic and visibility of agribusiness firms on social media, and we find that a lot of agribusiness firms leave the potential of SM unused. The agribusiness firms upstream in the value chain and located in rural peripheral areas could take more advantages of SM visibility. We then create a model of image and positioning on SM using a binary logistic regression. We predict that more than two messages of sales per week on SM can diminish the visibility of agribusiness firm on SM.     

The effect of regional factors in the development of eco‐innovations in the firm

This research addresses the study of the effect of regional factors in the development of eco‐innovations in the firm. We assume the hypothesis of regional heterogeneity, that is, geographical factors and the regional heterogeneity play an important role in determining the innovations in the firms. In this line, we will approach our study from the perspective of regional innovation systems (RISs). Therefore, our research question involves the evaluation of regional factors as determinants of eco‐innovation developing in the firm. To examine these questions, the PITEC database that covers the period 2011–2013 was used. Overall, 5,461 firms have been employed for the ordinal logit regression model. This research contributes to the studies of eco‐innovation, extending the investigation into drivers of eco‐innovation, and highlights the impact that RIS has on the eco‐innovative development in the firm. We find that regional interaction and regional characteristics are key elements for the development of eco‐innovation in firms. Thus, the density of companies in the region, the regional per capita income, and the existence of financing mechanisms are key elements for the eco‐innovative development in the firm.     

Land use conversion from tourist to residential

This work analyses the forces that drive the conversion of non-hotel tourist accommodation into residential use. For this purpose, a land use change model that considers spatial autocorrelation is proposed and applied to the tourist area of Maspalomas, in Gran Canaria, Spain, which has suffered an extraordinary process of residentialization in the last decade. The empirical model estimates the probability that a non-hotel accommodation resort (apartments/bungalows) located in this area closes its activity within a prefixed time period. Results show that the state of the neighbouring resorts influences on the probability of closure of the apartments/bungalows, as well as their specific typology and low quality. From these results, some recommendations are proposed about the strategies undertaken by the implied agents.     

International briefing 34: training and development in Spain

This article locates training and development in Spain within the country's socio‐economic context. It maps the major changes which have been introduced into the training and development system since the briefing by Escardíbul and Llinas‐Audet published in this journal in 2010. It relates those changes to the ongoing economic crisis which began in 2009 and the growing emphasis on employers’ demands in the design of the training system. Finally, it identifies the challenges presented to Spanish policy‐makers by a number of weaknesses in the current system. The Spanish experience is particularly relevant for countries in which social partner involvement and a significant small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) presence are important issues in the development of their training system. It is also particularly useful for those countries in Latin America whose training systems have been influenced by the Spanish model.     

The Impact of Living‐Wage Ordinances on Urban Crime

We examine the impact of living wages on crime. Past research has found that living wages appear to increase unemployment while providing greater returns to market work. The impact on crime, therefore, is unclear. Using data on annual crime rates for large cities in the United States, we find that living‐wage ordinances are associated with notable reductions in property‐related crime and no discernable impact on nonproperty crimes.     

Adjustment of Input–Output Tables from Two Initial Matrices

The compilation of the information required to construct survey-based input–output (I–O) tables consumes resources and time to statistical agencies. Consequently, a number of non-survey techniques have been developed in the last decades to estimate I–O tables. These techniques usually depart from observable information on the row and column margins, and then the cells of the matrix are adjusted using as a priori information a matrix from a past period (updating) or an I–O table from the same time period (regionalization). This paper proposes the use of a composite cross-entropy approach that allows for introducing both types of a priori information. The suggested methodology is suitable to be applied only to matrices with semi-positive interior cells and margins. Numerical simulations and an empirical application are carried out, where an I–O table for the Euro Area is estimated with this method and the result is compared with the traditional projection techniques.