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- Office of Energy and Environmental Industries
- Office of Health and IT
- Office of Transportation Machinery
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Office of Health and Information Technology (OHIT)
Office Mission Statement
The Office of Health and Information Technology (OHIT) is dedicated to strengthening the global competitiveness of the U.S. health and information technology (IT) industries, by expanding their access to foreign markets and increasing U.S. exports.
What We Do For You:
We monitor business and economic trends in the health and IT industries and provide data on trade and global markets in these sectors. We use our industry knowledge to inform our analysis of trade policy worldwide, and to influence the development of U.S. trade policy in these sectors. We participate in formal trade negotiations and other bilateral and multilateral activities to advance trade opportunities for U.S. companies. We provide industry and policy expertise to other units of the International Trade Administration and the U.S. Government, and evaluate the impact of international economic and regulatory policies on U.S. manufacturers. We conduct webinars, give speeches, and prepare market research on the sectors covered by the office.
Who We Are:
OHIT is divided into two teams, Health Technologies and Information Technologies. Note that “Information Technology” or IT is used here in the broad sense, to include information and communications technologies, sometimes referred to with the acronym ICT.
The Health Technologies Team Covers These Major Subsectors
- The medical device industry, which includes surgical appliances and supplies, surgical and medical instruments, electro-medical equipment, in-vitro diagnostic substances, irradiation apparatus and ophthalmic goods. Medical devices differ from pharmaceuticals in that they do not achieve their intended use through chemical reaction and are not metabolized in the body.
- The pharmaceutical and medical biotechnology industry, which includes the following subsectors:
- The innovative pharmaceutical industry produces chemically-derived drugs developed as a result of extensive research and development (R&D) and clinical trials in both humans and animals. The innovator relies on patents and other forms of intellectual property rights to justify the investment required to bring a product to market (the U.S. patent term is 20 years). The pharmaceutical industry is heavily dependent on the development of new molecules to replace the revenue stream of older drugs that have come to the expiration of their patent terms.
- The generic pharmaceutical industry produces copies of innovative pharmaceuticals that contain the same active ingredient, are identical in strength, dosage form, and route of administration.
- The biopharmaceutical industry produces medical drugs derived from life forms (biologics). These include proteins (including antibodies), and nucleic acids (DNA, RNA or antisense oligonucleotides) used for therapeutic or in vivo diagnostic purposes, and are produced by means other than direct extraction from a native (non-engineered) biological source. A potentially controversial method of producing biopharmaceuticals involves transgenic organisms, particularly plants and animals that have been genetically modified to produce drugs.
- Biologics (both biologics and biosimilars) include a wide range of products such as vaccines, therapeutic proteins, blood and blood components, tissues, etc. The term biosimilar refers to products that have similar properties to existing biologic products.
- In cooperation with the Information Technologies Team and the Office of Services Industries, Health Information Technology (Health IT) , which integrates elements of health services, information and communication technologies, and health products (including selected medical technologies). Health IT has an objective of digitizing health information and enabling the exchange of that information between and across equipment and networks to improve patient care. Key Health IT subsectors include:
- Electronic Health Records—storage of health information from multiple caregivers and patients in one location;
- Remote Monitoring/Telemedicine—use of medical information exchanged electronically from one site to another to address a patient’s health status;
- Health Information Networks—the hardware and infrastructure needed to facilitate information exchange between multiple sites;
- Health Information Management/Exchange—use of common vocabularies and terminology so that caregivers in multiple locations have a shared understanding of a patient’s condition; and
- Mobile Health (often referred to as mHealth)—health information and applications available through mobile devices.
- The semiconductor and related equipment subsector includes integrated circuits and other semiconductors, and equipment to manufacture and test semiconductors. Semiconductors are key components of computers, telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, transportation and medical equipment, and nearly every electronic product. Key semiconductor and related equipment subsectors include:
- Semiconductors, including microprocessors, DRAMs, flash memory, multi-chip packages, and multi-component integrated circuits;
- Semiconductor manufacturing and test equipment, including chemical and physical deposition, ion implantation, and lithography equipment; final packaging and assembly equipment; electrical testing and inspection instrumentation and apparatus.
- The information and communications technologies equipment subsector includes:
- Information Technology hardware – computers ranging from supercomputers and servers to desktop PCs, to laptops and tablets; peripheral equipment such as m onitors, storage devices, and network-connected and computer printers and copiers; and
- Telecommunications equipment – network and transmission equipment used to deliver high-speed fixed and mobile broadband (voice, video and data) services to consumers and businesses, such as local area network (LAN) equipment, IP-based switches, routers, advanced fiber optics, third and fourth-generation (3G, 4G LTE) and other advanced wireless network equipment, as well as wireless phones, and
- Cable TV and broadcasting transmission equipment, and communications satellites and associated ground equipment.
The Information Technologies Team covers these major subsectors:
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The International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, manages this global trade site to provide access to ITA information on promoting trade and investment, strengthening the competitiveness of U.S. industry, and ensuring fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein. This site contains PDF documents. A PDF reader is available from Adobe Systems Incorporated.