Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director, President and CEO: Shingo Ueno, hereinafter 'Sumitomo Corporation') has invested in CareClinics Healthcare Services (hereinafter 'CCHS'), which operates a private medical clinic in Malaysia.
Through this, we will make a full-scale entry into the rapidly growing private medical and clinic business in Southeast Asia.
CCHS is a private medical group that operates 104 clinics in Malaysia. It serves a total of approximately 2 million patients annually and provides primary care services (1) rooted in the community. Sumitomo Corporation invested in CCHS in 2020 in order to provide convenient, high-quality medical services by leveraging the knowledge gained through the retail business and drugstore/dispensing pharmacy business. Since then, we have become the largest shareholder after multiple capital increases.
In addition to providing growth funds to CCHS, Sumitomo Corporation provides a variety of support such as strategy formulation, business development, and strengthening of internal control systems. Specifically, we will analyze the demand for clinics in each region, and in regions where demand is not met, we will extend business hours and develop an operating system that suits the lifestyles of patients living in each region. We are contributing to the medical infrastructure of the world. In addition, while standardizing medical services at all clinics, we utilize digital technology to centrally manage patient information and seamlessly provide high-quality medical services.
By leveraging the strengths of both parties, the number of clinics has expanded from 18 at the time of collaboration to 104 (as of March 2024), making it the largest private medical clinic in Malaysia.
Going forward, we aim to expand to 300 facilities by 2026 and aim to establish a strong business foundation in Malaysia. Furthermore, we aim to expand our healthcare business while providing better medical services to Southeast Asia by opening clinics in other countries and collaborating with the managed care business (2) operated by group company SC Healthcare Holdings.
Primary care service: A local health care function that comprehensively and continuously responds to all health problems and diseases, from pre-symptomatic and preventive care, as part of the nation's health management and family doctor functions.
Managed
care is a managed care system that is developing in countries where the public health care system is not fully developed, and medical care is provided through collaboration among three parties: corporate/private health insurance companies, managed care providers, and medical institutions. A mechanism for providing services.
Current state of medical care in Malaysia
In recent years, in Malaysia, improvements in the quality and supply of medical services have not kept pace with the increasing medical demand due to the aging of the population and the increase in lifestyle-related diseases. Issues have surfaced, such as the need for In addition, medical costs are increasing due to advances in medical technology, and the burden on patients, businesses, and insurance companies is becoming excessive.
In such an environment, efficient and convenient clinics are expected to serve as the first point of contact for health management and as a primary care provider. We encourage clinics to perform important functions.
Significance of Sumitomo Corporation's efforts Compatibility with managed care business
In order to strengthen and develop its healthcare-related business over the medium to long term, Sumitomo Corporation is working to develop drugstores with dispensing facilities in Japan and overseas, build regional comprehensive care systems, and support drug discovery. We are developing a managed care business.
In Malaysia, approximately 60% of patients visiting clinics are members of medical insurance contracted by managed care providers or employees of companies. Managed care members need to use clinics contracted with managed care providers, so the compatibility between managed care and clinic businesses is very high, and they are closely linked to the provision of high-quality and efficient medical services. Collaboration is essential.
Through collaboration between clinics and managed care providers, Sumitomo Corporation provides in-house clinics to the corporate customers of managed care providers, as well as pre-symptomatic and preventive programs such as health checkups for employees, thereby improving health management. provide services. In addition, based on the knowledge and various data obtained from each business, we will develop services to control and optimize medical costs, provide pre-symptomatic and preventive services, early detection and medical care for managed care members at high risk of disease, and provide care. By managing the situation, we will contribute to the finances of patients, medical institutions, companies, and national and local governments.
About Sumitomo Corporation's healthcare business in Southeast Asia
Since founding Tomod's, a drugstore with a dispensing facility, in 1993, Sumitomo Corporation has been working to improve the quality of community medical care in Japan. Utilizing this knowledge, we set out to expand our healthcare business both domestically and internationally with the goal of 'building a sustainable healthcare system that contributes to improving the quality of life of individuals,' and entered the overseas healthcare business in 2019.
Sumitomo Corporation has invested in SC Healthcare Holdings, a group company in Malaysia, and Insmart in Vietnam, and is developing a managed care business.
In addition to our role as medical payment management and medical infrastructure, which existed before Sumitomo Corporation's participation, we will advance the sophistication of our managed care business and contribute to society by promoting value-added services such as online medical treatment and dispensing, and health promotion programs. We have been working on solving problems. As a result, SC Healthcare Holdings has the largest market share in the industry in Malaysia. Furthermore, we will continue to expand our business through the analysis and utilization of medical data, aiming to reduce medical expenses in Malaysia by approximately 30 billion yen by 2030, and also expand our business to other regions in Southeast Asia such as Singapore and the Philippines. We are actively considering this.
Through collaboration between managed care providers and clinic businesses, we will continue to build a network as a social infrastructure that supports medical care in Southeast Asia.
SUMITOMO CORPORATION 
