Chairman Hiroshi Matsumura
Matsumura sits at the helm of an organisation comprising 70 bases in Japan and overseas, with 1,200 staff.
Opened in November 2015, the Tokushinkai Quartz Tower embodies Matsumura’s dream of providing cutting-edge dental and medical healthcare, along with technical know-how, to patients under a single roof.
Matsumura is proud of the Japanese health insurance system. Even in the early 1980s, however, he saw that the falling population and resultant financial constraints meant that the system was heading for a breakdown.
“The test is how to reduce the burden on the state without increasing the burden on the patient”, he said.
The majority of his patients at Tokushinkai are treated under the national health system, but a growing number are prepared to pay extra to receive special care. Yet, he said, “It is healthcare that I want to provide, not a healthcare business”.
The centre caters to a variety of patients. The fourth and fifth floors house a comprehensive dental centre offering care under the national insurance system, while the seventh-floor surgery functions under private health care.
Unlike other surgeries that are more likely to have dental components such as implants produced by a technician in a separate location, Matsumura’s seventh-floor surgery is adjacent to a technicians’ area. This allows for not only on-the-spot treatment, but also immediate technical adjustments.
A web-based 3D screen allows for real-time communication between patients, dentists and technicians who, in some cases, are located overseas. That means remote technicians can fine tune implants to the needs of patients, while talking the dentist through the process.
To create dental components, Tokushinkai has four technical teams in Japan, as well as staff in China, Myanmar and the US.
The eighth floor houses a medical centre, with internal medicine, orthopaedic and dermatology specialists, as well as a headache clinic.
For patients from overseas, Matsumura’s clinic provides treatment in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean, with plans to add more languages in the future.
Matsumura aims to achieve international recognition for his clinic by acquiring accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI), a US-based organisation that, according to its website, “identifies, measures and shares best practices in quality and patient safety with the world”.
Matsumura has created an entire floor that is compatible with JCI requirements. Although the accreditation has been granted to a number of hospitals in Japan, at present no dental surgeries have been recipients.
With his eye on a truly international future for Tokushinkai, Matsumura said, “I want to see us receive JCI accreditation in the next year, without fail”.
Tokushinkai Quartz Tower 7F
2-10-10 Shibuya
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
03-6362-6687
Open 10am–7pm
