(Kamogawa  - 2008 update)  The Kameda Medical Center and Clinics has a history that spans more than 350 years to the Edo period. From herbal medicine to laser surgery, the medical center continues to advance in all fields of medicine in order to meet its goal of continuous quality improvement. Our current Chairman of the Board is Dr. Takaaki Kameda, M.D., who represents the eleventh generation of the Kameda line of physicians operating healthcare facilities in Japan.  Kameda is privately owned and operated.  In 1997 the medical center was ranked 9th in the nation by Nikkei Business publications, in 1998 was chosen as Asian Hospital of the Year by HealthAsia Publishing, and in March 2000 was granted ISO9001 certification, enterprise-wide.  In August of 2001, Nikkei Business again ranked the top 100 hospitals and Kameda was ranked #4 overall among the top 100 hospitals in Japan, and in a new category of public information disclosure, Kameda was ranked #3.-Since then Kameda achieved certification / Accreditation from the British Standards Institute, the United Kingdom Accrediting Service, and is Privacy Mark Certified. Kameda is scheduled for two accreditation next year (2009) including Joint Commission International (JCI).

The Kameda Medical Center consists of an 965 bed inpatient facility, and a comprehensive freestanding outpatient facility (19 inpatient beds) as its core functions in Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture, with Ministry of Health and Welfare approved teaching programs for both junior residents (interns) as well as formal residency programs. In April of 2003, an inpatient  replacement tower began the construction process and is now complete. An private rooms with an ocean view. In May 2004 a new Kameda rehabilitation Hospital opened.

An education and training building houses intern study areas, classrooms, a medical library, and mainframe computers.   The number of interns at Kameda averages 36 each year (first, second year combined number).  In 2004, a two-year internship for newly graduating physicians became mandatory in Japan.  In addition to extensive holdings in the Japanese Language, our medical library holds a set of core books and journals that are recommended for small hospitals in the United States, and we maintain those holdings. Kameda has three nursing colleges with an enrollment of more than 460 nursing students located on the main hospital grounds. Home health care programs are offered to the communities served also.

In line with our goal of continuous quality improvement, the 22,000 square meter freestanding ambulatory (outpatient) clinic was dedicated in April of 1995. This was preceded by a service building concept which introduced the very latest technology in energy conservation, with creative applications in heating, electricity production, air conditioning and ventilation, and co-generation technology. Producing our own utilities gives us some reassurance that we can operate during natural disasters to fulfill our mission. The service building, in addition to the energy systems, houses staff and patient food production facilities, staff dining rooms, a very modern centralized clinical laboratory, central sterilization capabilities, and the materials management function. The centralized laboratory, as well as wards, special care units, ancillary services, and outpatient departments are all interconnected by the latest pneumatic tube transport design and installation by SwissLog. A trading company called KMC operates within the service building, which provides additional materials management functions. Several other non- healthcare delivery corporations are operated under the Kameda Group. Kameda Total Service provides plant maintenance housekeeping and construction services, and Kameda Sangyo operates all restaurant, shop, rental, and home health care retail services.  Kameda Healthcare Informatics Institute is breaking new ground in information technology, and Kameda is virtually paperless and filmless today, using a totally integrated electronic medical record.  A new company, born in early 2000,  is Apius.com, which is an application service provider for web-based medical records and data. PLANET is our Web-Based Medical Record system.Internet Based with Password + Pin security. Patients have 24/7 access to their own Medical records.; Exciting times! Here is a view of our high resolution diagnostic imaging center in our outpatient clinic:

   

Click on the above images to enlarge.  Digital from the source, at 4000X4000 12 bit resolution, these images can be 'custom developed', because with no film, there is no such thing as a 'bad' film.

Other high resolution digital images:

   

The slide in the upper right quadrant goes from good, better best!

And:

     

Colonoscopy......Ophthalmology........Fluoroscopy..........Dermatology....&...Ultrasound!

In Makuhari Messe, near Tokyo Disneyland, we operate an outpatient operation in the Makuhari Technogarden Building, as well as a one day Health Appraisal Program. Kameda also operates the Morinosato Hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture in Morinosato New Town near Atsugi City.

The Kameda General Hospital in Kamogawa has close to 375 physicians on a full time basis, and offers all specialty services inpatient psychiatry. There is great pride in offering the latest medical technology to our staff and patients. There are many residency programs at Kameda, with the larger programs being in internal medicine, neurosurgery, cardiovascular surgery, urology, and in obstetrics and gynecology.  Special features of the medical center include a 24 hour heliport, a Level I Trauma Center, 50 bed Renal Dialysis Center, a series of intensive care units consisting of an Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit, Neurosurgical ICU, Neonatal ICU, and 24 bed Emergency Care Unit (ECU) staffed with emergency medicine trained physicians.

24 hour a day heliport adjacent to Trauma Center

Many physicians here have trained abroad, and there are several on staff that hold medical licenses in both Japan and the United States. Our average length of stay for inpatients is under 14 days, which was half the national average and for acute care, average of less than 9 days. With the introduction of the Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) reimbursement system at Kameda in April 2004, are seeing fairly dramatic declines in the traditional lengths of stay in many specialties.  We have been designated previously as a back up hospital for U.S. Presidential visits when they include an itinerary in the southern Kanto Plain, and we are pleased to provide that support. Foreign patients, of course, are welcome.  Although we do not have 24 hour a day bilingual support, we have English, Chinese, and Korean capabilities. 

Since 1992, this hospital was a full participant in the Maryland Hospital Association's Quality Indicator Project, the only Japanese hospital that was using U.S. hospital comparative data as part of a continuous quality improvement effort. We discontinued our participation, but still collect data for analysis.  Benchmarking against comparative data from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards is also part of our TQM/CQI Program at Kameda. In March of 2000 Kameda achieved ISO9001 certification. We participated in the Bertlesmann Foundation International Hospital Benchmarking Forum,winning a 'Best' Hospital Aword in 2007. Our Executive Vice President, Mr. John Wocher has a faculty appointment at Muenster University, and in addition to teaching in the MBA programs there, represented Japan and Kameda at the Foundation meetings.

This medical center has a strong international interest as evidenced by numerous international activities. Since 1993,  we have provided summer internships to selected students in the University of Iowa's Graduate Program in Hospital and Health Services Administration. A total of almost 20 students have spent three month summer internships here Mr. John Wocher has an active faculty appointment there. Our first summer intern from Munster University in Germany was here in 2008.

We enjoy very close relationships with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. These fine facilities are benchmarks for the Kameda Medical Center, and we visit often in addition to frequent staff exchanges. In January 2001, we concluded a medical student/resident exchange agreement with Swedish Health services in Seattle, Washington in the United States as well as the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. 

Kameda has been involved in the design and development of the electronic medical record (EMR) over the past decade and achieved implementation that made a paperless and filmless medical record a reality. Kameda holds Japan and USA patents and copyrights, and has EU patients as well.  Most visitors are extremely surprised with our actual implementation in this regard, and we consider ourselves to have one of the most advanced accomplishments in this field, and it is only at Kameda. There is great satisfaction in watching these visions become reality.

The Kameda (K-Tower)Concept: Patient Empowerment Patient Centered Care, NOT Staff Centered Care - "say yes culture" Full Disclosure (No Secrets) Every Bed a Care Team - Private Rooms Every Room an Internet Connection to the World Totally Paperless, Filmless & Integrated Medical Records 24 Hour (When Possible) Visiting A Healing Environment with High Tech and High Touch Accommodate Family and Visitors, Superb Amenities And More...

350 Years of Experience Here To Serve You.

The Kameda Medical Center
929 Higashi-cho, Kamogawa City
Chiba Prefecture, 296 Japan
Tel: 0470-92-2211
Fax: 0470-93-0420
email: Link Here

©2003 KAMEDA MEDICAL CENTER