A Comparative Policy Analysis in the E-Health Industry Between China and the USA

Abstract

With the problems of neonatal survival and aging of the population becoming increasingly serious, the voice that longs for a new model of the medical industry is pushed to the limelight in the society. Gradually, a neologism “eHealth” is perceived by the public. A number of countries believe the eHealth industry will be the most promising industry in the 21st century, and policies should be made to promote its development. From the view of the policy tools, this paper proposes a theoretical analysis framework for the eHealth industry to compare the policies of the eHealth industry between China and the USA, who respectively enacted “Healthy China 2030” and “Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (2015-2020).” The results illustrate that China prefers to use “demand side policy,” which focuses on “legal and regulatory” and “public services.” While the USA prefers to use “supply side policy,” which focuses on “public services.” Moreover, this study unscrambles the specific policy terms and provides the policy recommendations for the further development of the eHealth industry.