Hospitals total expenditures on a monthly basis for medical services to treat sickness or injury. Officially, they charge the monthly bill to insurers (including Health Insurance Societies) and receive the requested sum. However, there are tens of thousands of hospitals and thousands of insurers in Japan. Applications for payment and disbursement by the individual parties can make processing extremely complex.
In practice, hospitals and insurers use Healthcare bill check and payment organization of Social Insurance Medical Fee Payment Fund, etc. for applications and disbursements.
High-cost Medical Care Benefits, Patient Cost-sharing Reimbursements, and Dependents' Additional Medical Care Expenses reach insured persons three months after the medical treatment in question, as requests for these benefits are conveyed to the Health Insurance Societies by way of Healthcare bill check and payment organization.