A questionnaire study was carried out from September through December 1998 to clarify the sex distribution of professorships at Japanese medical schools. Sixty-four (1.7%) professors in 32 medical schools were women. Thirty-five female professors had graduated from national and prefectural medical schools, and 29 had graduated from private medical schools. Twenty professors had careers in basic medical research, 8 in public health, and 36 in clinical medicine. Forty-seven (73.4%) of 64 female professors responded to the mailed questionnaires, and 18 had been promoted in the last 5 years. Although more than half of the female professors faced disadvantages because of their gender, many were fully supported by their supervisors or their families or both. The number of female professors reflects the status of female medical doctors.

Medical students in the second to fifth years evaluated all classroom lectures and laboratories in 1998. To clarify the faculty's opinions on student evaluations, in 2000 a questionnaire survey was given to 420 members of the teaching staff, of whom 137 (33%) responded. One hundred three (81.1%) instructors immediately checked the questionnaires after the classroom lecture or laboratory session, of whom 100 reported that the questionnaires were helpful for preparing subsequent lectures. One hundred nine faculty members replied that student evaluations of faculty teaching were meaningful, and 109 supported similar surveys in the future. Although conducting surveys of many students requires considerable time and cost, an effective feedback system plays an important role for both faculty and students.

At Anjo Kosei Hospital, all staff has been working concertedly on a project to establish a community hospital in line with our future vision. Hospital staff in charge of the Medical Affairs Division has been involved in measures aimed at achieving the slogan “health and happiness of local residents” as part of this project. To address this, three goals were set as follows: improvement of recoveries in accounts receivable management, a reduction of money held in trust, and a decrease in the number of outsourced transactions. To achieve the goals described above, the following specific measure were carried out: (1) collection of accounts receivable using convenience store settlement; (2) collection of high-cost medical expenses by wider use of Eligibility Certificates for Ceiling-Amount Applications and promotion of the Major Medical Cost Loan System for national health insurance holders; and (3) support in acquiring family registration for nonregistered family members and for health insurance benefits. Recoveries of accounts receivable through convenience store settlement was about 90,000 yen/month, and our support activities for family registration and health insurance benefits provided the recoveries of about 80,000 yen/month. Furthermore, the promoted use of the certificate and loan system resulted in recoveries of about 17 million yen/year. The average commission fee and number of outsourcing was 890,188 yen and 12 cases, respectively, from April to August 2016. However, in 2017, it was 305,615 yen and 10 cases, respectively. Our project aimed at achieving slogan-elicited patient voluntary payment of medical expenses, leading to improved recoveries, with reduced money held in trust and fewer outsourced transactions.