Kiyoshi Nishioka

Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of the Local Organizing Committee, to attend the 25th PCS International Conference: Casemix: Common language for health policy,11-14 November 2009, Fukuoka, Japan.

As usual we are aiming to have a very successful meeting with the right balance of scientific work and social events, as this has been the tradition of all PCS International working conferences.

On April 1, 1983, the first casemix system to be used for payment for hospital services was adopted by the US Congress. This system made it possible to compare the output of hospital services among the different facilities. This was a real innovation for hospital management. A number of countries, including Western European countries and Asia-Pacific countries, were influenced by this innovation and have adopted various kinds of casemix systems. Japan belongs to the last group that has adopted the casemix system around the world. Based on the traditional fee-for-service system, our country has developed a unique system that has made it possible to analyze clinical processes. Today, casemix system becomes a real management tool for health system, beyond a tool for payment. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to share the experiences of different casemix systems and applications.

We are very pleased to announce that our 2009 meeting will focus on various application of casemix system, such as for regional health planning, evaluation of clinical quality, evaluation method of innovation of medical technology.

We are deeply involved in the preparations for the 25th PCS International working conference and hope that you will soon begin to make your own arrangements to be in Fukuoka in November 2009. The November is a best season to feel the Japanese autumn.

We hope you will be here to share it with us!

See you in Fukuoka!