This IDC study (a translation of the Japanese report IDC #J12120102) reviews the key policies related to the Japan healthcare market that includes medical care, healthcare and welfare, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences in 4Q11. It analyzes the 2010 spending, the estimated spending in 2011, and the forecast spending trends in the 2012–2016 period. It also presents forecasts for the Japan healthcare IT market (medical care, healthcare and welfare, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences) based on data published in Japan IT Market Performance in First Quarter 2011 and 2011–2015 Forecast: Third Quarter 2011 Update (IDC #J12501102, February 2012).

Among the various reconstruction activities planned in 2012 following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, healthcare and medical care is an issue that occupies top priority. "Vendors that are involved in disaster reconstruction activities should not only aim to build medical, healthcare, and welfare centers in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region but also aim to strengthen research and development (R&D) activities for the creation and growth of globally competitive IT healthcare system by taking advantage of the segregation of Tohoku as a special zone area," says Eiji Sasahara, research manager, IT Spending, IDC Japan.