Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Fujitsu and SoftBank are forming a healthcare alliance in an effort to help contain Japan¡¯s ballooning medical costs through tech initiatives.?

With the country facing the ¡°2040 problem,¡±?in which the second baby-boomer generation will enter old age, the country¡¯s healthcare expenditures are projected to surge from nearly ?50 trillion a year ($315 billion) to the ?70 trillion-to-?80 trillion level by 2040.

A shrinking working-age population means that rising medical costs will heavily burden the young, who pay most of the premiums to keep Japan¡¯s universal healthcare system funded.

¡°It could trigger a devastating negative spiral that would further accelerate the declining birthrate,¡± said Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group CEO Toru Nakashima at a news conference Tuesday.??

¡°We are now standing at a historic watershed.¡±

To ensure everyone will be able to receive the care they need in the future, it¡¯s essential for people to stay healthy longer to reduce medical expenses and make better use of medical resources, Nakashima said.?

The three companies are looking to play a key role in optimizing this process.

As Fujitsu is a major maker of electronic health record systems for hospitals, the alliance plans to make a medical data product to improve operational efficiency at medical institutions and improve service for patients.?

By combining the data available with daily health data of users, which can be collected via smart devices, they will also create a personalized AI agent that will support the health of individuals.??

They said these initiatives will be implemented?with user consent, given that medical data is sensitive. The data will be stored in domestic data centers.??

The three companies said they aim to scale the healthcare product to 60 million users and provide it to 4,000 medical institutions.