The integration of innovation within healthcare is a key aspect of the so-called next generation medical systems. Toward this direction the contribution of this volume is multifold. First demystifies the new wave of emerging and streamline technologies and uncovers the added value of their components. Second underlines a new policy-based era of health governance, since the integration of innovation within healthcare must be understood from the key stakeholders and needs to be implemented taking into account various limitations. Last but not least, innovation in healthcare must be seen as a human-centric process where complicated and sophisticated, distributed medical services and processes are utilized. The adoption of advanced Healthcare Information Systems and Medical Informatics requires an integrated approach sensitive to various social, economic, political, and cultural factors. The challenges that the adoption and use sophisticated information and communication technologies (ICTs) generate need to be considered too. Smart Data and Data Analytics along with cognitive computing are the promising technologies with great value added for the domain of healthcare. The focus of this edited volume is to examine the social, economic, political, and cultural impacts, and challenges emerging sophisticated ICT bear for patient-centric systems in healthcare. By offering a detailed comprehensive and comparative insight into diverse advances in ICT and their application across issues and domains, this edited volume occupies a unique position on the market. This is because it brings together not only a discussion on the most promising technologies and their current and prospective uses, but also dwells on managerial and policymaking challenges and opportunities this process creates.
