According to the U.S Department of Commerce’s “Health IT Top Market Report”, Japan has the third highest GDP level globally behind only the U.S and China. The country’s large health IT market size has the oldest skewing population distribution, a high concentration of population clustered in urban areas, a tech-friendly society, and a very good health IT infrastructure. These factors indicate that health IT has a good foundation in Japan with the potential for continued growth.
The Japanese government expects the adoption of IT in the medical field and for home nursing care will increase and it is expected that regional medical cooperation will expand through information sharing between these two fields. However, security and privacy protection concerns still exist when using medical databases and big data in the healthcare field.
In addition, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s (MHLW) telemedicine guidelines released March 2018, reports that U.S technologies in the areas of security and privacy, and cloud computing will see increased market opportunities.
The adoption of EMRs is a major priority in Japan. According to an industry source, the adoption rate for EMRs and ordering systems among hospitals in 2017 was 34.4 percent for EMRs and 43.6 percent for ordering systems in hospitals. The report shows that 76.3 percent of hospitals with more than 400 beds have EMRs and 83.1 percent have electronic ordering systems. Due to rapid demographic changes and hospital shortages, demand for home nursing care is expected to grow.
In 2017, MHLW’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) advisory panel released the report “Utilizing Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Sector”, discusses areas for AI development including genomic medicine, diagnostic imaging support, diagnostic treatment support, drug development, nursing care, and surgery assistance.
The report was prepared by the U.S embassies abroad. U.S Commercial Services of the Department of Commerce has trade specialists in the U.S available to answer questions. For information, go to http://export.gov/usoffices.
For additional information, go to https://www.export.gov/article?id=Japan-healthcare-IT or email Ms. Yasue Morimoto Commercial Assistant at Yasue.Morimoto@trade.gov for more information on health IT.