Medical Care Act

• The establisher (開設者) of a hospital or clinic must have it managed by a clinically trained physician, or by a clinically trained dentist where it practises dentistry or mainly dentistry, and a birthing center must be managed by a midwife; this administrator (管理者) supervises the staff and takes the care needed in running the facility. An establisher who is qualified to be the administrator must manage it personally, and an administrator may not manage another hospital, clinic or birthing center, unless the governor (for a clinic or birthing center in a city with a public health center or a special ward, its mayor) permits it — for the second, only in cases the Act or an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare lists, such as a clinic in an area where securing physicians is especially needed (医師の確保を特に図るべき区域) or a clinic for a workplace's employees. A hospital practising medicine must have a physician on night duty, unless it is a case such an Order sets as one where a physician can treat an inpatient promptly if their condition suddenly changes, such as a physician waiting next to the hospital.(Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 11(1), Art. 15(1), Art. 15(2), Art. 12(1), Art. 12(2), Art. 16(1), Art. 7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• When a patient is admitted, the hospital or clinic administrator must see that the physician or dentist in charge writes down, gives to the patient or family and properly explains the patient's name, date of birth and sex, the physician or dentist mainly in charge, the illness or injury and main symptoms that led to admission, the plan for tests, surgery, medication and other treatment during the stay, including nursing and nutrition, and other matters an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets — unless the patient is expected to leave soon or another case such an Order sets applies. The administrator of every hospital, clinic and birthing center reports to the governor the information such an Order sets for patients to choose well, including the facility's primary care functions (かかりつけ医機能), and keeps it available for reading at the facility; the governor publishes it. Physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and others who provide care must try to explain properly and gain the patient's understanding.(Art. 6-4(1), Art. 6-3(1), Art. 6-3(5), Art. 1-4(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• No one (何人も) may advertise falsely, in any medium, about medical or dental practice or a hospital or clinic, and such an advertisement may not claim to be better than other hospitals or clinics, exaggerate, offend public order or morals, or break the other standards an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets. Apart from cases such an Order sets as unlikely to hinder patients' choice, only the matters the Act lists may be advertised — among them that the person is a physician or dentist, the clinical departments (診療科名), the name, phone number, address and administrator, the days and hours, the beds, facilities and staff, and the treatment and results of kinds the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare names. Rules of the same kind govern advertising about midwives and birthing centers, and no one may advertise an online consultation facility except where such an Order allows.(Art. 6-5(1), Art. 6-5(2), Art. 6-5(3), Art. 6-7(1), Art. 6-7(2), Art. 6-7(3), Art. 6-7-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Every hospital, clinic and birthing center administrator must take measures to keep care safe, such as drawing up a safety guideline and training staff. When a medical accident (医療事故) occurs — a death or stillbirth of a kind an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare defines, caused or suspected to be caused by care its staff gave, which the administrator did not expect — the administrator must report it without delay to the Medical Accident Investigation and Support Center (医療事故調査・支援センター), promptly investigate its cause and report the result, each time explaining to the bereaved family first unless there is none or they cannot be found. The administrator or the family may ask the Center to investigate, and the administrator may not refuse its requests for explanations or materials.(Art. 6-12(1), Art. 6-10(1), Art. 6-10(2), Art. 6-11(1), Art. 6-11(4), Art. 6-11(5), Art. 6-17(1), Art. 6-17(2), Art. 6-17(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For the time being, every hospital and clinic administrator must keep a system for tracking and responding to the health of the physicians who work there. A physician whose monthly hours meet criteria an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets must be given, and must attend, an interview (面接指導) with a suitably qualified physician — unless they hand in proof of an equivalent one with another qualified physician, or one of a kind such an Order accepts has been held under the Industrial Safety and Health Act (労働安全衛生法) — after which the administrator hears the interviewing physician's opinion and, where needed, cuts the hours or night duty or takes other suitable measures; the administrator must also try to give physicians whose planned yearly hours meet such criteria a continuous rest period.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 107(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 108(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 108(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 108(4), Suppl. Prov. Art. 108(5), Suppl. Prov. Art. 108(6), Suppl. Prov. Art. 108(8), Suppl. Prov. Art. 110(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An association (社団) or foundation (財団) that opens a hospital, a clinic where a physician or dentist works full time, a long-term care health facility (介護老人保健施設) or an integrated facility for medical and long-term care (介護医療院) can become a medical corporation (医療法人), with the authorization of the governor of the prefecture where its main office is. It must hold the assets it needs and have at least three directors and one auditor (one or two directors with the governor's approval), a president (理事長) chosen from the directors who are physicians or dentists unless the governor approves otherwise, and the administrators of its facilities among its directors, though with two or more facilities it may leave some off with approval; it may not pay dividends from its surplus. Within three months after each fiscal year it files with the governor its business report and financial documents, the auditor's report and, for the larger corporations an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare picks out, an accountant's audit report.(Art. 39(1), Art. 39(2), Art. 44(1), Art. 41(1), Art. 46-5(1), Art. 46-6(1), Art. 46-5(6), Art. 54(1), Art. 52(1), Art. 51(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 October 2026

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the Medical Care Act, etc.

  医療法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 87 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 5 June 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Health Insurance Act, etc.

  健康保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 31 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 25 May 2026

  Act on the Promotion of Business Financing, etc.

  事業性融資の推進等に関する法律

  Act No. 52 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Medical Care Act, etc.

  医療法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 87 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Health Insurance Act, etc. to Establish a Sustainable Social Security System for All Generations

  全世代対応型の持続可能な社会保障制度を構築するための健康保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 31 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Medical Care Act, etc. for Promoting the Securing of a System for Efficiently Providing High-Quality and Appropriate Medical Care

  良質かつ適切な医療を効率的に提供する体制の確保を推進するための医療法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 49 of 2021The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 12 December 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Medical Care Act, etc.

  医療法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 87 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 20 November 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, etc.

  医薬品、医療機器等の品質、有効性及び安全性の確保等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 6 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement, etc. of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act on Security Assignment Contracts and Retention of Title Contracts

  譲渡担保契約及び所有権留保契約に関する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律

  Act No. 57 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 46 amendments already in force

• For hospitals, clinics and birthing centers the national government opens, and online consultation facilities it sets up, a Cabinet Order may make special provision for how the Act applies.(Art. 6(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A physician or dentist who practises only by house calls, or a midwife who works only by visiting, for the public or a particular group, has their address treated as a clinic or birthing center only for the rules on the midwife's written explanation to a pregnant woman, on advertising, and on notifying an opening and a closure; the governor or mayor may require them to report or to produce medical or birth records.(Art. 5(1), Art. 5(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A birthing center may not take in ten or more pregnant women, women in labor or women after childbirth at a time, except temporarily in an emergency where there is no other suitable facility to admit them.(Art. 14(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A clinic or birthing center that a clinically trained physician or dentist, or a midwife, opened by notification may be suspended for more than a year, and the governor's power to revoke or close a facility that does not reopen within a year does not reach it.(Art. 8-2(1), Art. 29(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The establisher of a hospital or clinic must have a pharmacist of its own (専属の薬剤師) as a local ordinance (条例) provides under standards of an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, unless the governor — for a clinic in a city with a public health center or a special ward, its mayor — permits otherwise.(Art. 18(1), Art. 7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For the time being, the administrators of hospitals and clinics the governor designates, on the establisher's application, because physicians must unavoidably work long hours there — for emergency care, care at home or care hard to get elsewhere in the area, for sending physicians to other facilities, or for training residents and physicians in specialist skills — must carry out a plan to cut physicians' hours and must, not merely try to, give a continuous rest period to physicians whose planned hours meet criteria an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets, except where the physician is on qualifying on-call duty (宿日直), where an unavoidable reason such an Order sets requires work in it and equivalent rest is given afterwards, or, in a disaster or similar emergency, with the governor's permission. For physicians doing that work, the outer limits of overtime that such an Order sets under Article 141 of the Supplementary Provisions of the Labor Standards Act take into account the nature of the work at those institutions as well as the physicians' health and welfare.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 113(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 118(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 119(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 120(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 122(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 123(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 123(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 123(4), Suppl. Prov. Art. 128(1), Labor Standards Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 141(2), Labor Standards Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 141(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A medical corporation set up, or applied for, before 1 April 2007 whose articles name no one to receive its remaining assets, or name someone outside the list in Article 44(5) — the national and local governments, medical corporations and other providers of care an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare names — is, for the time being, exempt from Article 50(4) as the Act then read, and the earlier wording of Article 56 on remaining assets, from before Act No. 84 of 2006 amended it, still applies to it, until a change of its articles naming such a recipient is authorized. Until 31 December 2029, such a corporation of the association type may have the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare certify a plan to convert into one whose articles name such a recipient.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 5(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 10(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 10-2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 10-3(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 10-3(5), Art. 44(5)) (the provisions it rests on)

• The governor — or, in a city with a public health center or a special ward, its mayor — may, where needed, require the establisher or administrator of a hospital, clinic or birthing center to report, and send officials, appointed as medical care inspectors (医療監視員), to enter it and inspect its staff, cleanliness, building and equipment, medical and birth records, books and other items; where a breach of the law or grossly improper running is suspected, they may also demand those records and inspect the establisher's offices and other places connected with running it. The officials carry identification and show it on request, and these powers are not for criminal investigation. Officials who handled those records and without good reason leak a physician's, dentist's or midwife's professional secrets or a person's secrets learned in that work face up to one year's imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 25(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 26(1), Art. 25(5), Art. 6-8(3), Art. 6-8(4), Art. 86(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The governor may order the establisher to add staff by a deadline, or to suspend all or part of the work for a period, where the staffing of a hospital or a clinic with long-term care beds falls far short of the standards in a way an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets as seriously hindering proper care. The governor — for a clinic or birthing center in a city with a public health center or a special ward, its mayor — may order the establisher to restrict or stop use of all or part of a facility, or to repair or rebuild it, where it is unclean, its building breaks the standards, or it is unsanitary or unsafe; may order the establisher, or the founder of an online consultation facility, to take the measures needed where the work of a hospital, clinic, birthing center or online consultation facility breaks the law or is run grossly improperly, suspending it in whole or part if that order is not followed; and may order the establisher to replace an administrator who has committed a crime or misconduct in medical matters or is unfit to manage.(Art. 23-2(1), Art. 24(1), Art. 24-2(1), Art. 24-2(2), Art. 28(1), Art. 7(1), Art. 8-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The governor — for a clinic, birthing center or online consultation facility in a city with a public health center or a special ward, its mayor — may revoke the permission to open a hospital, clinic or birthing center, or order it — or an online consultation facility — closed for a period, where it has not started work within six months of the permission without good reason; where it has stayed suspended for a year or more without good reason, unless it is a clinic or birthing center opened by notification; where the establisher disobeys an order to report or correct a report about the facility, or an order under Article 24(1), 24-2(2) or 28; or where the establisher or founder has committed a crime or misconduct in medical matters. Where the governor or mayor makes such an order, or one under Article 23-2, 24(1), 24-2 or 28, without first giving the person a chance to explain or a hearing because, under the Administrative Procedure Act (行政手続法), the public interest urgently requires it, they must give them a chance to explain within three days afterwards.(Art. 29(1), Art. 30(1), Art. 8-2(2), Administrative Procedure Act Art. 13(2)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a prefecture, a municipality or another body the Act lists — among them public employees' mutual aid associations and health insurance societies — applies to open a hospital, add beds or change their type, or to put or add beds in a clinic, the governor may, after hearing the Prefectural Council on Medical Service Facilities (都道府県医療審議会), refuse where the beds of that kind in the area already reach, or would then exceed, the standard number of beds (基準病床数) in the medical care plan. For any applicant, where it is especially needed to carry out the medical care plan, the governor may, after hearing that council, make recommendations about opening a hospital, adding beds or changing their type, or putting or adding beds in a clinic, and tells the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare where one is not followed.This is the rule until 31 March 2027.(Art. 7-2(1), Art. 7-2(2), Art. 7-2(5), Art. 30-11(1), Art. 30-11(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a prefecture, a municipality or another body the Act lists — among them public employees' mutual aid associations and health insurance societies — applies to open a hospital, add beds or change their type, or to put or add beds in a clinic, the governor may, after hearing the Prefectural Council on Medical Service Facilities (都道府県医療審議会), refuse where the beds of that kind in the area already reach, or would then exceed, the standard number of beds (基準病床数) in the medical care plan. For any applicant, where it is especially needed to carry out the regional medical care vision (地域医療構想) and the medical care plan, the governor may, after hearing that council, make recommendations about opening a hospital, adding beds or changing their type, or putting or adding beds in a clinic, and tells the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare where one is not followed. A medical care plan a prefecture made under the earlier wording counts as both its medical care plan and its regional medical care vision until it is replaced, and at the latest until 31 March 2029.This is the rule from 1 April 2027.(Art. 7-2(1), Art. 7-2(2), Art. 7-2(10), Art. 30-11(1), Art. 30-11(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where an advertisement about medical, dental or midwifery practice or about a hospital, clinic, birthing center or online consultation facility may break the advertising rules, the governor — or, in a city with a public health center or a special ward, its mayor — may require the advertiser to report and have officials inspect its office; where it breaks the standards or the limits on what may be advertised, they may order it stopped or corrected by a deadline. Advertising falsely, and disobeying such an order, are punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 6-8(1), Art. 6-8(2), Art. 87(1)(i), Art. 87(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Opening a hospital, clinic or birthing center without the permission it needs, a birthing center taking in ten or more women at once, and disobeying orders on staffing, facilities, the administrator, closure and some others are punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 300,000 yen. Using a misleading name such as hospital or clinic, failing to notify an opening, a suspension or a closure, breaking the rules on who manages a facility, on night duty or on required facilities, using a building before its inspection, and refusing or obstructing an inspection are punishable by a fine of up to 200,000 yen. Where an employee or representative does such a thing in the course of the business, the business owner or corporation is fined as well.(Art. 87(1), Art. 89(1), Art. 90(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a medical corporation is suspected of breaking the law, its articles or an order, or of being run grossly improperly, the governor may ask it for reports and inspect its offices; where it does, the governor may order it to put things right and, if it does not, suspend all or part of its business or recommend dismissing its officers, after hearing the Prefectural Council on Medical Service Facilities. The governor may revoke its authorization where it has not opened or reopened a facility within a year without good reason, or, after hearing the council, where it breaks the law or an order and supervision cannot work any other way, and must give it a chance to explain before refusing an authorization the Act lists or recommending its officers' dismissal. Its directors, auditors and liquidators face a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 200,000 yen for failings such as not registering, not filing reports, paying dividends from surplus or obstructing an inspection.(Art. 63(1), Art. 64(1), Art. 64(2), Art. 64(3), Art. 65(1), Art. 66(1), Art. 66(2), Art. 67(1), Art. 93(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• In an area the governor designates because its rate of outpatient physicians to outpatients passes a standard an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets and outpatient care the area especially needs must be secured, a person opening a clinic for medical practice without beds must notify the governor, six months before opening, of their intentions about providing that care, unless such an Order excuses it; this applies to those opening such a clinic from six months after 1 April 2026. If they say they will not provide it, the governor may ask them to explain at the consultation forum and, unless the governor accepts their reasons as unavoidable, request them to provide it by a deadline; once the clinic is open and does not, the governor may ask its establisher or administrator to explain to the prefectural council and, again unless the reasons are accepted, recommend that they provide it and publish a failure to follow. Not notifying, or notifying falsely, is punishable by a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 30-18-6(1), Art. 30-18-6(3), Art. 30-18-6(4), Art. 30-18-6(6), Art. 30-18-6(7), Art. 30-18-6(9), Art. 30-18-6(10), Art. 92(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where an administrator fails without good reason to keep the system for physicians' health, to hold the interviews or to cut very long hours, or the administrator of a designated institution fails to secure the rest periods, the governor may order the establisher to put it right by a deadline; for the time being, such an order also counts among those whose breach can lead to suspension of the work under Article 24-2, and among those after which, if made without a prior hearing, a chance to explain must follow within three days. Disobeying such an order is punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 300,000 yen, and where an employee or representative does it in the course of the business, the business owner or corporation is fined as well.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 111(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 126(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 127(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 148(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 150(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The administrator of a hospital or clinic with long-term care or general beds must report to the governor, as an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets, the facility's functions in the area and the functions of its beds now and as planned, and the administrator of a hospital or clinic such an Order names must report its primary care functions (かかりつけ医機能) for patients who need continuing care. Where a report is not made or is false, the governor may order the establisher to have it made or corrected, and disobeying that order is punishable by a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 300,000 yen.This is the rule until 30 September 2027.(Art. 30-13(1), Art. 30-13(5), Art. 30-18-4(1), Art. 30-18-4(6), Art. 92(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The administrator of a hospital with beds other than infectious-disease and tuberculosis beds, or of a clinic with long-term care or general beds, must report to the governor, as an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets, the facility's functions in the area and the functions of its beds now and as planned, and the administrator of a hospital or clinic such an Order names must report its primary care functions (かかりつけ医機能) for patients who need continuing care. Where a report is not made or is false, the governor may order the establisher to have it made or corrected, and disobeying that order is punishable by a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 300,000 yen.This is the rule from 1 October 2027.(Art. 30-13(1), Art. 30-13(5), Art. 30-18-4(1), Art. 30-18-4(6), Art. 92(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1)(vii)) (the provisions it rests on)