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.

Revolutionary advances in biomedical research and information systems technology pose new and difficult issues for American health care policy, especially in the context of managed care. Health Care Policy in a New Millennium takes on this challenging array of issues where the dignity of individual life meets the imperatives of national-level health-care systems - patients' rights, rationing of care, organ transplants, genetic research, confidentiality of medical records, the right to die, and other ethical dilemmas. The book places these critical questions about the quality of life in our society in their political, legal, social, economic, and ethical contexts.

Revolutionary advances in biomedical research and information systems technology pose new and difficult issues for American health care policy, especially in the context of managed care. Health Care Policy in a New Millennium takes on this challenging array of issues where the dignity of individual life meets the imperatives of national-level health-care systems - patients' rights, rationing of care, organ transplants, genetic research, confidentiality of medical records, the right to die, and other ethical dilemmas. The book places these critical questions about the quality of life in our society in their political, legal, social, economic, and ethical contexts.

Americans praise medical technology for saving lives and improving health. Yet, new technology is often cited as a key factor in skyrocketing medical costs. This volume, second in the Medical Innovation at the Crossroads series, examines how economic incentives for innovation are changing and what that means for the future of health care. Up-to-date with a wide variety of examples and case studies, this book explores how payment, patent, and regulatory policiesâ€"as well as the involvement of numerous government agenciesâ€"affect the introduction and use of new pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and surgical procedures. The volume also includes detailed comparisons of policies and patterns of technological innovation in Western Europe and Japan. This fact-filled and practical book will be of interest to economists, policymakers, health administrators, health care practitioners, and the concerned public.

Offers health care professionals vital information about risks, benefits, and costs of new medical technologies to help them make informed decisions

Technological change in healthcare has led to huge improvements in health services and the health status of populations. It is also pinpointed as the main driver of healthcare expenditure. Although offering remarkable benefits, changes in technology are not free and often entail significant financial, as well as physical or social risks. These need to be balanced out in the setting of government regulations, insurance contracts, and individuals' decisions to use and consume certain technologies. With this in mind, this book addresses the following important objectives: to provide a detailed analysis of what technological change is; to identify drivers of innovation in several healthcare areas; to present existing mechanisms and processes for ensuring and valuing efficiency and development in the use of medical technologies; and to analyse the impact of advances in medical technology on health, healthcare expenditure, and health insurance. Each of the seventeen chapters summarizes an important issue concerning the innovation debate and contributes to a better understanding of the role innovation has both at the macro level and at the delivery (meso) and micro level in the healthcare sector. The effectiveness of innovation in improving people's welfare depends on its diffusion and inception by the relevant agents in the health production process, and this book recognizes the multi-faceted contribution of policy makers, regulators, managers, technicians, consumers and patients to this technology change. This book offers the first truly global economic analysis of healthcare technologies, taking the subject beyond simply economic evaluation, and exploring the behavioural aspects, organization and incentives for new technology developments, and the adoption and diffusion of these technologies.

Digital disruption in healthcare is generating new technologies, applications, and large data sets, and these are all precipitating significant changes in healthcare processes. Emerging applications due to digital disruption and their impact on healthcare delivery and quality are becoming some of the key focus areas of research. However, to date, systematic, generalizable, full-scale evaluation of these new technologies/applications is lacking. Little is known about the net short- or long-term health and wellness impacts of digital technologies. Similarly, the care-delivery and management process changes caused by digital disruption are forcing healthcare organizations to react rather than plan for them in advance. Given these gaps, this book addresses the technology, applications, data, and process aspects of digital disruption in healthcare. This volume is a collection of key areas in health and wellness impacted by digital disruption. It highlights the benefits, barriers, facilitators, and transformative forces that are shaping healthcare digital disruption. Topics explored in the chapters include: Towards Network Medicine: Implementation of Panomics and Artificial Intelligence for Precision Medicine Telehealth Implementation: A Synopsis of Patients’ Experience of Clinical Outcomes Realising the Healthcare Value Proposition of Better Access, Quality and Value of Care by Incorporating the Social Determinants of Health with Digital Health The Internet Hospital in the Time of COVID-19: An Example from China Given the diverse interest in healthcare delivery solutions today, the need is broad across academia and the healthcare industry for a comprehensive resource for teaching, practice, and research. Digital Disruption in Healthcare is a point-of-entry resource for transferring theory into practice for heads of IT departments in hospitals, consultants, and academia, as well as scholars and researchers. Both graduate and undergraduate students as well as certificate-seeking health informatics and public health students would benefit from this book. Furthermore, it is useful for healthcare stakeholders including healthcare professionals, clinicians, medical administrators, managers, consultants, policy-makers, and IT practitioners within the healthcare space.