Philippines Health IT

The Philippines seeks to implement Universal Healthcare and expand services across 7000 islands. Geographic and internet connectivity challenges exist although the size of the e-health market is expected to reach $132 million in 2020. As of March 2020, however, Universal Healthcare has yet to be fully implemented.

There are two groups of consumers for health IT - government and private sector. Government includes the Department of Health (DOH) and the hospitals it administers, plus all local government hospitals. The second group of consumers are the private hospitals that mostly cater to the wealthier segment of the population that have more cash at their disposal to be first to implement IT solutions. The major private hospitals in the Philippines have adopted electronic medical records and are leaders in the implementation of new ICT solutions and can continue to tap into innovative technologies to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and provide a better experience for their patients.

The need for telemedicine, mobile apps for prescription delivery, and online forums to address issues such as consultations, advice, and patient status, are areas for development of software, data storage and data protection.

U.S firms interested in selling to the government must partner with a local firm in order to participate in government tenders. Procurements by government hospitals are done through the Philippine Electronic Government Procurement System (PHILGEPS) and firms must bid directly through this system, which is not yet structured to allow for proper procurement of ICT. Firms might need to spend time meeting with government stakeholders to explain their solutions and help develop tender specifications. Procurement law also favors the “lowest cost compliant bid” and firms must structure their bids to still be successful despite this challenge. Despite these setbacks, government market presents more opportunities and possibilities for success.

Private hospitals have their own procurement criteria. As there are few of them in the market, competition is fierce; however, the amount of time needed to explain the benefits of one`s product would not be as long in comparison to government buyers. Firms wishing to sell to private hospitals would need to develop relationships and register with the main private hospitals, to be notified regarding RFP opportunities.

GM Philippines Contacts: Dey Robles, Commercial Specialist for Health, E-mail: Dey.Robles@trade.gov and John Giray, Commercial Specialist, E-mail: John.Giray@trade.gov