International University of Health and Welfare

What International University of Health and Welfare does

International University of Health and Welfare (IUHW, 国際医療福祉大学・高邦会グループ) is a Japanese school corporation (学校法人) operating one of the country's largest vertically integrated healthcare, education, and welfare conglomerates, with origins tracing to the founding of Takagi Eye Hospital in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1910 and reorganized into its modern form in 1995. The group operates 7 university campuses across 6 prefectures (Tochigi, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Fukuoka) with 11 faculties and 28 departments training approximately 10,000 students in medicine, nursing, rehabilitation, pharmacy, psychology, and welfare management — notably including the Faculty of Medicine established in 2017 as the first new medical school in the Tokyo metropolitan area in approximately 43 years.

The group runs approximately 15-20 hospitals and medical centers with over 4,000 beds (anchor facilities include the 642-bed Narita Hospital, the 506-bed Takagi Hospital, the 449-bed Nasu Medical Center, and the 291-bed Mita Hospital), equipped with advanced technology including Da Vinci Xi and hinotori surgical robots, Cyberdyne HAL rehabilitation suits, PET-CT, 3.0T MRI, 320-slice CT, and Tomotherapy IMRT systems. It also operates more than 20 welfare facilities spanning elderly care, rehabilitation, nursing homes, day services, and home nursing, supplemented by an in-house ICT elderly care platform with monitoring sensors and hands-free intercoms. International operations include the jointly operated HECI health checkup center at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The group generates revenue through four primary streams: medical services reimbursed under Japan's national health insurance schedule, tuition fees from undergraduate and graduate healthcare programs, welfare and long-term care services reimbursed under Japan's long-term care insurance, and fee-based health checkup and international medical services. Distribution is entirely direct through owned facilities, with the IHW Open Innovation initiative (operated through wholly-owned subsidiary IHW Innovation & Consulting Inc., established 2024) providing an emerging B2B data and partnership channel with 20+ Japanese corporates. The group employs approximately 13,500 staff and is governed as a private school corporation with no public stock listing, no disclosed venture capital or private equity investors, and a stated strategic goal of becoming Asia's top healthcare group and medical school.

Name

International University of Health and Welfare

Legal name

学校法人国際医療福祉大学

Website

https://ihwgroup.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

1910

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

International University of Health and Welfare (IUHW) is a Japanese school corporation operating 7 university campuses, approximately 15-20 hospitals, and 20+ welfare facilities across 6 prefectures, training approximately 10,000 healthcare students and serving patients through an integrated medical-education-welfare model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Integrated Healthcare Services

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131), General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (6221), Specialty (except Psychiatric and Substance Abuse) Hospitals (622310), Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) (62311)

SIC

Services-Hospitals (8060), Services-Nursing & Personal Care Facilities (8050)

akta.pro primary industry

Allied Health & Rehabilitation Sciences Schools (PT/OT/SLP, etc.) (EDAHAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Global Health Institutes & Programs (EDAHAGAM), Health Administration & Health Policy Schools (MHA/MPH Policy) (EDAHAGAL)

Keywords

• Healthcare education services
• Medical services
• Elderly welfare services
• Integrated healthcare
• Clinical training

Headquarters

HQ city

Ohtawara (大田原市)

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Medical Services Revenue: Revenue from hospital operations including consultation fees, medical procedures, surgeries, examinations, and inpatient/outpatient care services covered under national health insurance
2. Educational Tuition: Tuition fees from undergraduate and graduate programs across multiple faculties including medicine, nursing, rehabilitation, pharmacy, and welfare studies
3. Welfare and Care Services: Fees from elderly care facilities, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and home healthcare services covered under long-term care insurance
4. Health Checkup Services: Revenue from comprehensive health examinations, human dock programs, and specialized screening services
5. International Medical Services: Medical services for international patients including specialized treatments and health tourism services at Narita Hospital

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

International University of Health and Welfare (IUHW) / Kohokai Group is a vertically integrated healthcare-education-welfare group operating universities that train healthcare professionals, a network of 17+ hospitals and clinics delivering acute, rehabilitative, and specialized medical care, and welfare facilities including nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and home nursing services across Japan. The group creates a closed-loop ecosystem in which its university graduates staff its own hospitals and welfare facilities, supported by advanced medical technology such as surgical robotics, advanced imaging, and ICT-enabled elderly care systems.

Product overview

International University of Health and Welfare (IUHW) operates as a comprehensive healthcare group spanning education, medical services, and welfare. The organization manages 11 faculties with 28 departments across universities and vocational schools, operates approximately 20 hospitals and medical facilities with over 4,000 total beds, and runs numerous welfare facilities including nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and childcare services. The group provides a vertically integrated system where educational programs train healthcare professionals who then work in the group's hospitals and welfare facilities, creating a closed-loop healthcare ecosystem across Tochigi, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, and Fukuoka prefectures.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• International University of Health and Welfare Faculty of Medicine (国際医療福祉大学医学部) Medical school program for training physicians; the first new medical school in the Tokyo metropolitan area in 43 years, established as a National Strategic Special Zone project.
• International University of Health and Welfare Narita Campus (成田キャンパス) Campus offering nursing, health sciences, pharmacy, and welfare programs; expanded with new School of Pharmacy building in 2026.
• Fukuoka International University of Health and Welfare (福岡国際医療福祉大学) 4-year university offering rehabilitation, nursing, and medical imaging programs.
• Graduate School of International University of Health and Welfare (国際医療福祉大学大学院) Graduate programs with 7 campuses across Japan offering doctoral and master's degrees in health sciences, pharmacy, and medicine.
• Otawara Campus Medical Laboratory Sciences Department (大田原キャンパス医学検査学科) New 4-year university department training clinical laboratory technicians, established April 2025 with a new 6,000 m² building equipped with cutting-edge precision instruments.
• IUHW Nasu Medical Center (国際医療福祉大学那須医療センター) Core hospital in Tochigi prefecture with 449 beds, providing emergency care, cancer treatment, perinatal care, and rehabilitation services.
• IUHW Narita Hospital (国際医療福祉大学成田病院) International hub hospital near Narita Airport with 642 beds, offering advanced medical care with multilingual support and comprehensive cancer treatment.
• IUHW Mita Hospital (国際医療福祉大学三田病院) Tokyo-based hospital with 291 beds, designated as Tokyo Cancer Care Collaborative Hospital with advanced robotics surgery capabilities.
• Takagi Hospital (高木病院) Founded in 1910, 506-bed core regional hospital in Okawa with cardiovascular, cancer, reproductive medicine, and emergency services.
• Fukuoka Sanno Hospital (福岡山王病院) 199-bed all-private-room hospital in Fukuoka with 9 operating rooms, NICU, and comprehensive medical departments.
• Sanno Hospital (山王病院) 78-bed hospital in Tokyo's Minato-ku specializing in digestive medicine, neurosurgery, and women's health including reproduction.
• IUHW Narita Senior Medical Welfare Center (国際医療福祉大学 成田老年医療福祉センター) New 210-bed combined facility with special nursing home (100 beds), geriatric rehabilitation facility (100 beds), and short-stay care (10 beds); first combined care facility in the IHW Group.
• HECI Vietnam - Japan-style Human Dock Center at Cho Ray Hospital Vietnam's first Japan-style comprehensive health checkup center, achieving over 90% diagnostic accuracy rate comparable to Japanese standards, with technical transfer from IHW Group.
• International Medical Services for Foreign Patients Medical services for international patients including specialized treatments and health tourism services at Narita Hospital with multilingual support.
• Takagi Hospital Reproductive Medical Center Reproductive medicine services including IVF-ET procedures, serving patients with fertility needs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Top-class medical school national examination pass rates
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Vietnam National Cho Ray Hospital (チョーライ病院)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 October 2018Joint establishment of Vietnam's first Japan-style health checkup center (HECI) at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. IHW Group provided training for medical staff in Japan for 3 months, deployed professors regularly for technical transfer. The center has achieved over 90% diagnostic accuracy rate comparable to Japanese standards.
• Vietnam GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term partnership with Vietnamese government for healthcare cooperation. Includes prevention medicine initiatives, medical professional training, and hospital development projects in Vietnam.
• Japanese Government (Prime Minister's Office)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipation in national strategic healthcare innovation projects including development of domestic medical LLM AI technology under the Strategic Innovation Creation Program (SIP). Collaboration with government on medical education and healthcare policy.
• Various Japanese Corporations (20+ companies)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIHW Open Innovation partnership with major Japanese corporations including telecommunications, IT services, and healthcare manufacturers. Companies leverage IHW Group's 70 facilities as demonstration fields and access medical big data for co-creation projects.
• Kyushu University Hospital Cardiovascular Surgery DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCooperation with Kyushu University Hospital's cardiovascular surgery department since 2016 for advanced cardiac and vascular disease treatments at Takagi Hospital.
• IHW Innovation & ConsultingcoreTechnology or IntegrationSubsidiary company established in 2024 to operate IHW Open Innovation initiative, supporting healthcare DX and open innovation partnerships with external companies.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Kitasato University: Major Japanese private medical university with Kitasato University Hospital, operating medicine, nursing, pharmaceutical sciences, and allied health programs. Highly comparable to IUHW as a comprehensive health sciences teaching institution with university hospital integration.
• Juntendo University: Major Tokyo private medical university operating Juntendo University Hospital and multiple affiliated facilities. Comparable to IUHW as a Japanese private health sciences university with university hospital integration, though more Tokyo-focused and without the welfare/elderly care arm.
• Nippon Medical School: Tokyo-based private medical school with Nippon Medical School Hospital and affiliated facilities. Comparable as a Japanese private medical university with university hospital, though more focused on physician training rather than IUHW's broader allied health and welfare portfolio.
• St. Luke's International University: Tokyo-based private university operating St. Luke's International Hospital, with similar graduate nursing and public health programs. Closely comparable to IUHW as an integrated health sciences university-hospital entity in Tokyo, with overlapping clinical training models and comparable student scale.
• Kameda Medical Center: Large private Japanese hospital group in Chiba Prefecture (Kamogawa area), operating multiple hospitals and clinics. Comparable to IUHW as a private integrated Japanese hospital group with significant scale, geographic concentration in the Kanto region, and similar regional hub hospital positioning.
• Teikyo University: Large Japanese private university with medical school, university hospital, and international programs. Comparable to IUHW in operating a private medical university with hospital integration, international student focus, and similar Tokyo-area presence.
• Toho University: Major Japanese private medical university with Toho University Omori Medical Center and other hospital facilities. Comparable to IUHW as a Japanese private health sciences university operating multiple affiliated hospitals, though lacking IUHW's welfare and international dimensions.
• Fujita Health University: Private Japanese university with multiple faculties (medicine, nursing, health sciences, pharmacy) and operates Fujita Medical Center Hospital. Highly comparable to IUHW in structure: a comprehensive private health sciences university owning its teaching hospital in the Nagoya/Aichi region.
• Tokushukai Medical Group: Japan's largest private hospital group operating ~70 hospitals across Japan and internationally. Tokushukai is the most direct comparable to IUHW as an integrated private Japanese hospital network, though it does not operate a university. Both groups compete for hospital acquisitions, physician talent, and welfare service expansion in the same prefectures.

Broad incumbents

• Seirei Social Welfare System / Seirei Hamamatsu Hospital: Major Japanese social welfare corporation operating hospitals, welfare facilities, and educational institutions including Seirei Gakuen University. Comparable to IUHW as a comparable-size integrated Japanese healthcare-education-welfare group, though its geographic concentration is in Shizuoka rather than distributed across Japan.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about International University of Health and Welfare