Industry and Government Leaders Discuss Exporting Health IT Products and Services

Key leaders came together to discuss opportunities and challenges of exporting health IT products and services at a June 17th roundtable discussion convened by the White House and the International Trade Administration. Jeremy Bonfini, HIMSS Executive Vice President of Global Services, and Tom Leary, HIMSS Senior Director for Federal Affairs, were among two dozen health IT executives participating in the “Health IT: Beyond Our Borders” roundtable.

As described in a blog entry by Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, “The discussion was focused on three primary topics:

• barriers to increased exports;
• HIT services and international partnerships; and
• standards and interoperability. Input provided by the group was helpful in identifying current and potential future obstacles and ensuring that our domestic innovation is informed by the reality of global markets.”

In a separate post by key leaders at the International Trade Administration (ITA), the authors explained that the discussion was spurred by “President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI), which aims to double American exports by the end of 2014, in support of several millions jobs,” and that at the conference there were a wide variety of people weighing in on the topic, including “Representatives of major healthcare providers, technology and software firms, and trade associations.” HIMSS’ international presence, under Bonfini’s leadership, includes HIMSS Europe, HIMSS Asia Pacific, and HIMSS Middle East.