Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has liberally interpreted remote medical care services by eliminating many restrictive definitions, allowing physiological measurements by smart wearable devices to be used as reference data by doctors. The move should promote the use of smart wearable devices in the Japan market, according to Digitimes Research.
The eliminated restrictive definitions are, for example, that remote medical care should be in remote locations or offshore islands and applied to patients with nine listed diseases, Digitimes Research indicated.
The liberal interpretation enables remote medical care to take off in the Japan market and as a result, many remote medical care services have been offered, including health care consulting platform Pocket Doctor and Port Medical which offers one-stop medical care combining remote clinic, diagnosis and prescriptions.
However, marketability of smart wearable devices depends on convenience, price and effective physiological measurements.