U-Healthcare Monitoring Systems: Volume One: Design and Applications focuses on designing efficient U-healthcare systems which require the integration and development of information technology service/facilities, wireless sensors technology, wireless communication tools, and localization techniques, along with health management monitoring, including increased commercialized service or trial services. These u-healthcare systems allow users to check and remotely manage the health conditions of their parents. Furthermore, context-aware service in u-healthcare systems includes a computer which provides an intelligent service based on the user's different conditions by outlining appropriate information relevant to the user's situation. This volume will help engineers design sensors, wireless systems and wireless communication embedded systems to provide an integrated u-healthcare monitoring system. This volume provides readers with a solid basis in the design and applications of u-healthcare monitoring systems. - Provides a solid basis in the design and applications of the u-healthcare monitoring systems - Illustrates the concept of the u-healthcare monitoring system and its requirements, with a specific focus on the medical sensors and wireless sensors communication - Presents a multidisciplinary volume that includes different applications of the monitoring system which highlight the main features for biomedical sensor devices

Sensors for Health Monitoring discusses the characteristics of U-Healthcare systems in different domains, providing a foundation for working professionals and undergraduate and postgraduate students. The book provides information and advice on how to choose the best sensors for a U-Healthcare system, advises and guides readers on how to overcome challenges relating to data acquisition and signal processing, and presents comprehensive coverage of up-to-date requirements in hardware, communication and calculation for next-generation uHealth systems. It then compares new technological and technical trends and discusses how they address expected u-Health requirements. In addition, detailed information on system operations is presented and challenges in ubiquitous computing are highlighted. The book not only helps beginners with a holistic approach toward understanding u-Health systems, but also presents researchers with the technological trends and design challenges they may face when designing such systems. - Presents an outstanding update on the use of U-Health data analysis and management tools in different applications, highlighting sensor systems - Highlights Internet of Things enabled U-Healthcare - Covers different data transmission techniques, applications and challenges with extensive case studies for U-Healthcare systems

The digital transformation of healthcare delivery is in full swing. Health monitoring is increasingly becoming more effective, efficient, and timely through mobile devices that are now widely available. This, as well as wireless technology, is essential to assessing, diagnosing, and treating medical ailments. However, systems and applications that boost wellness must be properly designed and regulated in order to protect the patient and provide the best care. Optimizing Health Monitoring Systems With Wireless Technology is an essential publication that focuses on critical issues related to the design, development, and deployment of wireless technology solutions for healthcare and wellness. Highlighting a broad range of topics including solution evaluation, privacy and security, and policy and regulation, this book is ideally designed for clinicians, hospital directors, hospital managers, consultants, health IT developers, healthcare providers, engineers, software developers, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

In 1996, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. In that report, the IOM Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine found telemedicine is similar in most respects to other technologies for which better evidence of effectiveness is also being demanded. Telemedicine, however, has some special characteristics-shared with information technologies generally-that warrant particular notice from evaluators and decision makers. Since that time, attention to telehealth has continued to grow in both the public and private sectors. Peer-reviewed journals and professional societies are devoted to telehealth, the federal government provides grant funding to promote the use of telehealth, and the private technology industry continues to develop new applications for telehealth. However, barriers remain to the use of telehealth modalities, including issues related to reimbursement, licensure, workforce, and costs. Also, some areas of telehealth have developed a stronger evidence base than others. The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) sponsored the IOM in holding a workshop in Washington, DC, on August 8-9 2012, to examine how the use of telehealth technology can fit into the U.S. health care system. HRSA asked the IOM to focus on the potential for telehealth to serve geographically isolated individuals and extend the reach of scarce resources while also emphasizing the quality and value in the delivery of health care services. This workshop summary discusses the evolution of telehealth since 1996, including the increasing role of the private sector, policies that have promoted or delayed the use of telehealth, and consumer acceptance of telehealth. The Role of Telehealth in an Evolving Health Care Environment: Workshop Summary discusses the current evidence base for telehealth, including available data and gaps in data; discuss how technological developments, including mobile telehealth, electronic intensive care units, remote monitoring, social networking, and wearable devices, in conjunction with the push for electronic health records, is changing the delivery of health care in rural and urban environments. This report also summarizes actions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can undertake to further the use of telehealth to improve health care outcomes while controlling costs in the current health care environment.

This open access book was prepared as a Final Publication of the COST Action IC1303 “Algorithms, Architectures and Platforms for Enhanced Living Environments (AAPELE)”. The concept of Enhanced Living Environments (ELE) refers to the area of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) that is more related with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Effective ELE solutions require appropriate ICT algorithms, architectures, platforms, and systems, having in view the advance of science and technology in this area and the development of new and innovative solutions that can provide improvements in the quality of life for people in their homes and can reduce the financial burden on the budgets of the healthcare providers. The aim of this book is to become a state-of-the-art reference, discussing progress made, as well as prompting future directions on theories, practices, standards, and strategies related to the ELE area. The book contains 12 chapters and can serve as a valuable reference for undergraduate students, post-graduate students, educators, faculty members, researchers, engineers, medical doctors, healthcare organizations, insurance companies, and research strategists working in this area.

Americans are accustomed to anecdotal evidence of the health care crisis. Yet, personal or local stories do not provide a comprehensive nationwide picture of our access to health care. Now, this book offers the long-awaited health equivalent of national economic indicators. This useful volume defines a set of national objectives and identifies indicatorsâ€"measures of utilization and outcomeâ€"that can "sense" when and where problems occur in accessing specific health care services. Using the indicators, the committee presents significant conclusions about the situation today, examining the relationships between access to care and factors such as income, race, ethnic origin, and location. The committee offers recommendations to federal, state, and local agencies for improving data collection and monitoring. This highly readable and well-organized volume will be essential for policymakers, public health officials, insurance companies, hospitals, physicians and nurses, and interested individuals.

In a joint effort between the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, this books attempts to bridge the knowledge/awareness divide separating health care professionals from their potential partners in systems engineering and related disciplines. The goal of this partnership is to transform the U.S. health care sector from an underperforming conglomerate of independent entities (individual practitioners, small group practices, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers et. al.) into a high performance "system" in which every participating unit recognizes its dependence and influence on every other unit. By providing both a framework and action plan for a systems approach to health care delivery based on a partnership between engineers and health care professionals, Building a Better Delivery System describes opportunities and challenges to harness the power of systems-engineering tools, information technologies and complementary knowledge in social sciences, cognitive sciences and business/management to advance the U.S. health care system.