08-Jun-16 A new global survey of patients and doctors by Philips shows that emerging economies are poised to adopt new technology, led by UAE and China. Australia comes in 4th and the US 6th. At the bottom of the report is Japan, where strict regulation and a lack of oversight have made the healthcare system less efficient. [image: UIG / Getty Images]

07-Jun-16 Telecom giant Telenor has launched Tonic, an mHealth service that provides basic medical information as well as more sophisticated services. Tonic has launched first in Bangladesh. Tonic is aiming to capitalize on the widespread adoption of mobile devices to enable new levels of access to healthcare among the 120 million estimated phone owners. [image: TechCrunch]

07-Jun-16 Korea is pushing ahead with a nationwide telemedicine platform despite strong opposition from doctors. Korea revised its Medicine Law in 2002 to allow only telemedicine consults between clinicians, preventing them from treating patients. In renewing the call for a national platform, officials said the service would be limited to “residents with specific medical, social or geographic conditions.” [image: mHealth Intelligence]

07-Jun-16 From Aug-16 to Jan-17, there will be five increases to hospital charges in Vietnam. Hospitals are not to collect extra money from patients, except for the gap in insurance coverage. Charges must be based on market demand, not on revenue targets. Hospitals must also spend at least 5% of their revenue on improving medical services. [image: Duc Anh]

06-Jun-16 Vietnam's Prime Minister targets 90% of Vietnamese having health insurance by 2020. After 25 years of implementing health insurance, coverage has reached 75%. He asked local authorities and ministries to prepare specific plans and tasks to achieve the 90% target. All hospitals must connect their data to national health insurance inspection networks in order to receive payments. [image: Vietnam Net]