Biomedical engineering and health informatics are closely related to each other, and it is often difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins, but ICT systems in healthcare and biomedical systems and devices are already becoming increasingly interconnected, and share the common entity of data. This is something which is set to become even more prevalent in future, and will complete the chain and flow of information from the sensor, via processing, to the actuator, which may be anyone or anything from a human healthcare professional to a robot. Methods for automating the processing of information, such as signal processing, machine learning, predictive analytics and decision support, are increasingly important for providing actionable information and supporting personalized and preventive healthcare protocols in both biomedical and digital healthcare systems and applications. This book of proceedings presents 50 papers from the 12th eHealth conference, eHealth2018, held in Vienna, Austria, in May 2018. The theme of this year’s conference is Biomedical Meets eHealth – From Sensors to Decisions, and the papers included here cover a wide range of topics from the field of eHealth. The book will be of interest to all those working to design and implement healthcare today.

Ineffective discharge management can jeopardize the successful completion of hospital treatment; but a well managed transition from hospital care to care at home depends on the efficient exchange of information with out-patient healthcare providers and professionals. This is just one way in which ICT can support healthcare and provide tools which help health professions to identify and communicate relevant data. Such tools will be increasingly important in future healthcare systems, and indeed a Europe-wide ICT infrastructure for information and data exchange may do much to revolutionize the quality of healthcare. It is therefore essential that infrastructures build on well-established standards such as Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), even if this initially takes longer to implement. This book presents the proceedings of the annual Health Informatics meets eHealth conference, held in Vienna, Austria, in May 2017. The special topic chosen for eHealth2017 is Digital Insight – Information-Driven Health & Care, and the conference addressed the increasingly international focus of eHealth and the importance of cross-border health ICT. The papers presented here cover many eHealth topics, from maternity records to rehabilitation and from staff training to information exchange. Future ICT systems will inevitably involve machine learning and predictive analytics in order to provide actionable information to health professionals and support preventive healthcare concepts, and this book provides an insight into current research in health informatics and eHealth, addressing many issues central to the future of health and care. The book will be of interest to all healthcare researchers and practitioners.

Traditionally, medicine has involved therapies chosen according to clinical guidelines, often arrived at through clinical trials which categorized patients into patient groups. Such clinical guidelines would dictate that all patients within a specific group should be treated in exactly the same way. More recently, the paradigm has shifted towards personalized medicine, and in future, individual treatment plans will depend more on the specific characteristics of individual patients, including genomic data. This book presents the proceedings of the 9th scientific eHealth conference, the eHealth Summit Austria, held in Vienna, Austria, in June 2015. Among the main topics addressed at the conference were: active and ambient assisted living (AAL); eHealth education; electronic patient and health records; ethical legal and economic aspects of eHealth; ICT for integrated treatment, research and personalized medicine; patient portals and personal health records; semantic interoperability of information systems; and visualization of clinical or epidemiological data. One of the first fields of application for personalized medicine has been oncology, with current diagnostic tools including molecular risk factors, biomarkers and individual genomes. The next step in personalized medicine will be to extend these to a more general, personalized health approach. Such individual risk assessment and preventive strategies promise to have a huge impact on our healthcare systems, and this book will be of interest to all those involved in healthcare research, provision and practice.

It is generally accepted that information and communication technology has the potential to support high quality, high-tech medicine, but up to now healthcare has lagged behind other sectors, such as service industries, in the implementation of such technology. Medicine is now beginning to catch up, however, and the Austrian government recently agreed on the nationwide implementation of an Electronic Health Record (Elektronische Gesundheitsakte (ELGA))._x000D_ This book presents the proceedings of the 8th scientific eHealth conference, which is being held in Vienna, Austria, in the context of the eHealth Summit Austria, in April 2014. The theme of the conference is "Outcomes Research: The Benefit of Health-IT", addressing the challenges which will inevitably accompany the new opportunities offered by the increased use of ICT in healthcare. The history of technologies making the transition from the laboratory into practice is one of mixed success. It is vital to understand what makes such an implementation a positive one, and factors such as the needs, fears, and context of potential users are as important as a sound technical implementation. Priorities may need to be rethought and new dimensions added._x000D_ The book will be of interest to all those considering the effect of new technologies and eHealth on the provision of healthcare systems, and seeking to achieve services which are both technically and organizationally sound and which will also efficiently deliver noticeable benefits for users.

Health and Biomedical Informatics is a rapidly evolving multidisciplinary field; one in which new developments may prove crucial in meeting the challenge of providing cost-effective, patient-centered healthcare worldwide. This book presents the proceedings of MEDINFO 2015, held in São Paulo, Brazil, in August 2015. The theme of this conference is ‘eHealth-enabled Health’, and the broad spectrum of topics covered ranges from emerging methodologies to successful implementations of innovative applications, integration and evaluation of eHealth systems and solutions. Included here are 178 full papers and 248 poster abstracts, selected after a rigorous review process from nearly 800 submissions by 2,500 authors from 59 countries. The conference brings together researchers, clinicians, technologists and managers from all over the world to share their experiences on the use of information methods, systems and technologies to promote patient-centered care, improving patient safety, enhancing care outcomes, facilitating translational research and enabling precision medicine, as well as advancing education and skills in Health and Biomedical Informatics. This comprehensive overview of Health and Biomedical Informatics will be of interest to all those involved in designing, commissioning and providing healthcare, wherever they may be.

Information technology and the information sciences have been part of our lives for some time now. They have revolutionized the healthcare system, changing the whole health landscape, as well as health culture. New devices, sources of data and roles for all those involved in healthcare are being developed as a result. This book presents the proceedings of the 25th European Medical Informatics Conference, held in Istanbul, Turkey in August/September 2014. The conference aims to present the most recent developments in biomedical informatics. The book is divided into 15 sections, which include: decision support systems and clinical practice guidelines; improved healthcare through informatics; data analysis; mobile health; technology and system evaluation; and text mining. The final two sections present posters from the conference. The book will be of interest to all those in the healthcare sector, researchers and practitioners alike, who develop, evaluate or work with information technology.

Informatics and technology have become an intrinsic part of healthcare management in recent years; it is almost impossible to imagine a modern healthcare system without them. This book presents the proceedings of the 14th annual International Conference on Informatics, Management and Technology in Healthcare (ICIMTH), held in Athens, Greece, in July 2016. The conference treats the field of biomedical informatics in a very broad framework, and the 68 full papers included here examine the research and applications outcomes of informatics from cell to population, including a number of technologies such as imaging, sensors, mobile communications, biomedical equipment and management, as well as legal and societal issues related to the application of health informatics. The book is divided into sections: Biomedical Technology; Clinical Informatics; E-learning and Education; Formalisation of Knowledge, Ontologies, Clinical Guidelines and Standards of Healthcare; Health Informatics; Healthcare Management and Public Health; mHealth and Telemedicine; and Social Media and Health. Also included are two keynote speeches. Covering a wide spectrum of applications, the book will be of interest to all those working in the design, management and delivery of healthcare services whose work involves the development or use of biomedical informatics.

The digitization of healthcare has become almost ubiquitous in recent years, spreading from healthcare organizations into the homes and personal appliances of practically every citizen. Thanks to the collective efforts of health professionals, patients and care providers as well as systems developers and researchers, the entire population of Europe is able to participate in and enjoy the benefits of digitized health information. This book presents the proceedings of the 26th Medical Informatics in Europe Conference (MIE2015), held in Madrid, Spain, in May 2015. The conference brings together participants who share their latest achievements in biomedical and health Informatics, including the role of the user in digital healthcare, and provides a forum for discussion of the inherent challenges to design and adequately deploy ICT tools, the assessment of health IT interventions, the training of users and the exploitation of available information and knowledge to further the continuous and ubiquitous availability and interoperability of medical information systems. Contributions address methodologies and applications, success stories and lessons learned as well as an overview of on-going projects and directions for the future. The book will be of interest to all those involved in the development, delivery and consumption of health and care information.

Around the world, healthcare planners and governments are engaged in activities to stimulate innovation and reform health systems as part of the drive to deliver safe, effective, quality care to patients. ICT is both a critical component of health system innovation and key stimulus for reform. This book presents papers from the 23rd Australian national Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2015), held in Brisbane, Australia, in August 2015. The conference brings together researchers, industry groups and healthcare providers from Australia and around the world to share cutting edge research, technology updates and innovations, and the papers included here provide valuable evidence and information about the diverse role that ICT plays in the health, elderly and community care sectors internationally. They encompass a wide spectrum of work, from major theoretical concepts and examples of key applications of new technologies to important new developments in the field of health informatics. The book represents an important contribution to the health informatics evidence base and will be of interest to all those working towards better healthcare provision worldwide.

Health informatics plays a central role in the digital transformation of the healthcare sector. The integration and connection of health services, practitioners and consumers is critical to the realisation of the improvements promised by digital health, and the secondary use of health data has led to ground-breaking research discoveries. Increased reliance upon all types of digital media has also established health informatics as a viable specialisation in healthcare. This book presents the proceedings of the 26th national Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2018), Australia’s premier health informatics event, held in Sydney, Australia, in July/August 2018. The conference provides an environment for clinicians, researchers, health IT professionals, industry and consumers to integrate, educate and share the knowledge which drives innovative thinking, and this year’s theme, ‘Today’s best practice, innovation today and preparing for tomorrow’, focuses on the important issues of connecting the system, being smart with data, and enhancing the practitioner and consumer experience in healthcare interactions. The papers presented here reflect this theme, highlighting cutting-edge research evidence, technology updates and innovations from the digital transformation of the healthcare sector. Covering a wide spectrum of work, and encompassing major theoretical concepts, examples of key applications of new technologies and important new developments in the field of health informatics, the book will be of interest to all those working in the healthcare sector.