In a blog posted on January 7, the International Trade Administration (ITA) discusses how important the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is to growth in health IT in the countries involved.
TPP countries face challenges similar to those in the United States regarding the delivery of health care, such as adequately and efficiently addressing a patient's health condition, while maximizing cost effectiveness. Given that many TPP countries also have health care systems at a relatively early stage of development, U.S. exports of health IT products and service solutions provide a tremendous opportunity for these countries to quickly deliver improved health care to their citizens. Provisions in the TPP regarding pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and medical supplies, in conjunction with increased deployment of health IT, will lead to critical improvements in the health care sector among all TPP countries, saving thousands of lives daily.
The goal of the TPP is to create a level playing field so that American companies and workers can compete against anyone in the world. Within the agreement, Japan and Malaysia will eliminate import taxes on 100 percent of U.S. health products exports immediately. Also, 99.9 percent of U.S. health product exports to TPP markets will enjoy duty-free access immediately.
As an additional resource, last summer ITA released a Health IT market sector report that discussed the many export market opportunities for health IT.
Posted Under: Policy Center, Government Agency
HIMSS - Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society issued this content on 2016-01-15 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 2016-01-15 16:20:27 UTC
Original Document: http://www.himss.org/News/NewsDetail.aspx?ItemNumber=46508
