What is ‘digital health’? And, what are its implications for medicine and healthcare, and for individual citizens and society? ‘Digital health’ is of growing interest to policymakers, clinicians, and businesses. It is underpinned by promise and optimism, with predictions that digital technologies and related innovations will soon ‘transform’ medicine and healthcare, and enable individuals to better manage their own health and risk and to receive a more ‘personalised’ treatment and care. Offering a sociological perspective, this book critically examines the dimensions and implications of ‘digital health’, a term that is often ill defined, but signifies the promise of technology to ‘empower’ individuals and improve their lives as well as generating efficiencies and wealth. The chapters explore relevant sociological concepts and theories; changing conceptions of the self-evident in citizens’ growing use of wearables, online behaviours and patient activism; changes in medical practices, especially precision (or ‘personalised’) medicine and growing reliance on ‘big data’ and algorithm-driven decisions; the character of the digital healthcare economy; and the perils of ‘digital health’. It is argued that, for various reasons, including the way digital technologies are designed and operate and the influence of big technology companies and other interests seeking to monetise citizens’ data, ‘digital health’ is unlikely to deliver much of what is promised. Citizens’ use of digital technologies is likened to a Faustian bargain: citizens are likely to surrender something of far greater value (their personal data) than what they obtain from their use. However, growing data activism and calls for ‘algorithmic accountability’ highlight the potential for citizens to create alternative futures—ones oriented to fulfilling human needs rather than techno-utopian visions. This ground-breaking book will provide an invaluable resource for those seeking to understand the socio-cultural and politico-economic implications of digital health.

There is a changed emphasis in many health services, with conventional pressures such as budget and workforce constraints, combined with the indirect forces of social change and strategic direction, bringing about the need for more flexible approaches for the longer term. By enabling different care models and delivery channels, telehealth offers demonstrably effective and sustainable solutions for issues such as access to and quality of care. This book presents 18 papers delivered at the 5th Global Telehealth Conference, held in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2016. The theme chosen for Global Telehealth 2016 is 'The Promise of New Technologies in an Age of New Health Challenges', and the papers included here cover a wide variety of topics, from theoretical and abstract contributions through to discussions of practical projects and highly specific applied contributions. The book also includes two invited papers which detail recent contributions to two global issues in which telehealth plays a major role: universal health coverage and personal health monitoring. With papers ranging in scope from computer assisted screening technology for diabetic retinopathy to behavior change through computer games, this book will be of interest to all those involved in the design and provision of healthcare services.

Everyone talks innovation and we can all point to random examples of innovation inside of healthcare information technology, but few repeatable processes exist that make innovation more routine than happenstance. How do you create and sustain a culture of innovation? What are the best practices you can refine and embed as part of your organization’s DNA? What are the potential outcomes for robust healthcare transformation when we get this innovation mystery solved? Through timely essays from leading experts, the first edition showcased the widely adopted healthcare innovation model from HIMSS and how providers could leverage to increase their velocity of digital transformation. Regardless of its promise, innovation has been slow in healthcare. The second edition takes the critical lessons learned from the first edition, expands and refreshes the content as a result of changes in the industry and the world. For example, the pandemic really shifted things. Now providers are more ready and interested to innovate. In the past year alone, significant disruptors (such as access to digital health) have entered the provider space threatening the existence of many hospitals and practices. This has served as a giant wake-up call that healthcare has shifted. And finally, there is more emphasis today than before on the concept of patient and clinician experience. Perhaps hastened by the pandemic, the race is on for innovations that will help address clinician burnout while better engaging patients and families. Loaded with numerous case studies and stories of successful innovation projects, this book helps the reader understand how to leverage innovation to help fulfill the promise of healthcare information technology in enabling superior business and clinical outcomes.

Health care is in the midst of a dramatic transformation in the United States. Spurred by technological advances, economic imperatives, and governmental policies, information technologies are rapidly being applied to health care in an effort to improve access, enhance quality, and decrease costs. At the same time, the use of technologies by the consumers of health care is changing how people interact with the health care system and with health information. These changes in health care have the potential both to exacerbate and to diminish the stark disparities in health and well-being that exist among population groups in the United States. If the benefits of technology flow disproportionately to those who already enjoy better coverage, use, and outcomes than disadvantaged groups, heath disparities could increase. But if technologies can be developed and implemented in such a way to improve access and enhance quality for the members of all groups, the ongoing transformation of health care could reduce the gaps among groups while improving health care for all. To explore the potential for further insights into, and opportunities to address, disparities in underserved populations the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in October 2014. The workshop focused on (1) how communities are using digital health technologies to improve health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority populations, (2) how community engagement can improve access to high-quality health information for members of these groups, and (3) on models of successful technology-based strategies to reduce health disparities. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions at the workshop.

This book presents a comprehensive state-of the-art approach to digital health technologies and practices within the broad confines of healthcare practices. It provides a canvas to discuss emerging digital health solutions, propelled by the ubiquitous availability of miniaturized, personalized devices and affordable, easy to use wearable sensors, and innovative technologies like 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality and driverless robots and vehicles including drones. One of the most significant promises the digital health solutions hold is to keep us healthier for longer, even with limited resources, while truly scaling the delivery of healthcare. Digital Health: Scaling Healthcare to the World addresses the emerging trends and enabling technologies contributing to technological advances in healthcare practice in the 21st Century. These areas include generic topics such as mobile health and telemedicine, as well as specific concepts such as social media for health, wearables and quantified-self trends. Also covered are the psychological models leveraged in design of solutions to persuade us to follow some recommended actions, then the design and educational facets of the proposed innovations, as well as ethics, privacy, security, and liability aspects influencing its acceptance. Furthermore, sections on economic aspects of the proposed innovations are included, analyzing the potential business models and entrepreneurship opportunities in the domain.

Although the data in healthcare comes from and relates to patients, it has generally been the clinician and not the patient who has been seen as the end-user of health information or health information technology. This seems set to change though, as the evolution of new online tools and mobile applications has led to the growth of a grass-roots effort from patients to change their role and involvement in their own health management. This book presents papers from the Information Technology and Communications in Health conference, ITCH 2015, held in Victoria, Canada, in February 2015. The theme of this conference is patient-centered care, and not only were contributors asked to consider the role and voice of the patient, but patients themselves were invited to contribute papers describing their experiences in healthcare and their use of their own data. The papers included here reflect not only informatics innovations in the field, but also explore how to involve patients in the design process, implementation and long-term use of health information systems, and will be of interest to researchers, health practitioners and patients alike.

Digital Health: Exploring Use and Integration of Wearables is the first book to show how and why engineering theory is used to solve real-world clinical applications, considering the knowledge and lessons gathered during many international projects. This book provides a pragmatic A to Z guide on the design, deployment and use of wearable technologies for laboratory and remote patient assessment, aligning the shared interests of diverse professions to meet with a common goal of translating engineering theory to modern clinical practice. It offers multidisciplinary experiences to guide engineers where no clinically advice and expertise may be available. Entering the domain of wearables in healthcare is notoriously difficult as projects and ideas often fail to deliver due to the lack of clinical understanding, i.e., what do healthcare professionals and patients really need? This book provides engineers and computer scientists with the clinical guidance to ensure their novel work successfully translates to inform real-world clinical diagnosis, treatment and management. Presents the first guide for wearable technologies in a multidisciplinary and translational manner Helps engineers design real-world applications to help them better understand theory and drive pragmatic clinical solutions Combines the expertise of engineers and clinicians in one go-to guide, accessible to all