10-Aug-16 South Korea bans doctor-patient virtual visits, and expects major demonstrations by doctors and activists when it comes up for a vote in the National Assembly. Medical professionals, including the 100,000 doctors in the KMA who successfully blocked telemedicine in 2014, are calling for "a slower, more collaborative plan of attack that establishes safety protocols." [image: Business Korea]

07-Aug-16 Businesses in Japan are looking to cash in on the potential for smartphones and wearable devices as health care trends toward the digital age. They are especially interested in preventive medicine, an area that could help Japan slash its ballooning medical costs. But the environment for startups in Japan is making it difficult to find a viable business model. [image: IStock / The Japan Times]

28-Jul-16 Dubbed the Brilliant Hospital initiative, hospitals in Japan could be plugged into a powerful cloud network that can share, analyze, and visualize terabytes of equipment (and someday patient) data. This saves time on repair procedures and helps doctors see more patients. It also helps them spot trends and make better diagnoses in the future. [image: GE Healthcare]

28-Jul-16 With hopes of breaking into the Japanese medical industry one day, trading house Mitsui will deepen its hospital management experience by investing USD101 mn in a 16% stake in Columbia Asia, the largest hospital operator in Asia serving middle-class patients. Columbia Asia specializes in outpatient and simple treatments, and owns 28 medical facilities in four countries. [image: W3LiveNews]

12-Jul-16 Major hospitals in Korea's second largest city Busan - Dong-a University Hospital, Kangdong Hospital and CMS Korea - are visiting Russia to enter the market and entice Russian patients. The number of foreigners visiting Korea for medical treatment stood at 297,000 in 2015, up 11% from 2014. Russian patients accounted for 7% and Busan was their major destination. [image: Busan Medical Tourism]