The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is reportedly considering offering remuneration to doctors under the medical insurance system for providing data to another doctor on patients seeking a second opinion.
The move is aimed at encouraging physicians to advise their patients to seek a second opinion and thus expand the patients' choice of medical treatment they can receive, sources at the ministry said.
The ministry plans to present its ideas soon to the Central Social Insurance Medical Council, in time to potentially reflect the change in fiscal 2006, they said.
The change would affect how doctors are reimbursed under the insurance scheme.
It would be the first time insurance benefits have been applied to medical services related to second opinions.
Patients now seeking a second opinion generally have to pay the costs of copying and sending their medical records to another doctor.