ABSTRACT
Japan faces developments such as rapid aging, rising healthcare costs and labor shortages, particularly among healthcare workers. Against this backdrop, some municipalities and prefectures have begun to introduce telehealth networks to link local healthcare institutions. These networks have also been introduced to promote the establishment of “Regional Integrated Healthcare Systems” (chiiki hōkatsu kea shisutemu) and to generate synergies between medical and long-term care regarding personnel, services, and infrastructure. This leads to the question: What benefits and challenges can be observed regarding telehealth networks in Japan’s regions from the perspective of peripheralization? The paper refers to the theoretical concepts of peripheralization developed by Kühn and of socio-spatial-digital proximity in telecare developed by Oudshoorn. I present findings from two cases of a telehealth network introduced in regions confronting peripheralization regarding the provision of and accessibility to healthcare services, namely the ism-Link network of Iida City and Shimoina District, Nagano Prefecture, and Fukui Medical Net. More precisely, the data stem from an interview study and on-site visits conducted in 2017. Overall, the findings suggest that the telehealth infrastructure is a necessary precondition, not only to promote but also to initiate collaboration between healthcare institutions in order to realize a regional healthcare system.
