The Chinese government is looking to reform its healthcare system to achieve international care standards by 2020. As part of its Health China 2020 strategy, it wants to digitize the healthcare delivery, leveraging sophisticated healthcare IT systems.

Frost & Sullivan’s analysis of end-user and regional perspectives found that the Chinese healthcare market earned $1.24 billion in revenues in 2013, and is estimated to reach $3.97 billion in 2020. The study covers hospital information systems and clinical information systems.

Large pockets that hold strong potential for healthcare IT remain under-penetrated, especially in Western China. As government efforts expand into this region, first with the adoption of basic hospital information systems and then by clinical applications, new opportunities will emerge for health IT companies.

Last year, the China healthcare IT market earned $1.24 billion in revenues.“The government is doggedly pushing for the use of regional health information networks that will integrate healthcare services and information across hospitals and regions,” said Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Industry Manager Natasha Gulati. “A dense regional network will open doors for advanced analytics and population health management solutions, simultaneously creating opportunities for IT integration and security vendors.”

The market is already dominated by local vendors competing on price as well as the ability to customize their solutions in local language and Chinese systems of medicine which threatens the future of foreign participants. Because doing business in China is expected to become more challenging and less profitable for foreign firms, they start establishing strategic relations with large local healthcare IT vendors, such as Neusoft and Shanghai Kingstar Winning Software, in hope to penetrate the Chinese market better and design a suitable strategy for success.

[Image from Telegraph]