The provision of effective emergency telemedicine and home monitoring solutions are the major fields of interest discussed in this study. Ambulances, Rural Health Centers (RHC) or other remote health location such as Ships navigating in wide seas are common examples of possible emergency sites, while critical care telemetry and telemedicine home follow-ups are important issues of telemonitoring. In order to support the above different growing application fields we created a combined real-time and store and forward facility that consists of a base unit and a telemedicine (mobile) unit. This integrated system: can be used when handling emergency cases in ambulances, RHC or ships by using a mobile telemedicine unit at the emergency site and a base unit at the hospital-expert's site, enhances intensive health care provision by giving a mobile base unit to the ICU doctor while the telemedicine unit remains at the ICU patient site and enables home telemonitoring, by installing the telemedicine unit at the patient's home while the base unit remains at the physician's office or hospital. The system allows the transmission of vital biosignals (3–12 lead ECG, SPO2, NIBP, IBP, Temp) and still images of the patient. The transmission is performed through GSM mobile telecommunication network, through satellite links (where GSM is not available) or through Plain Old Telephony Systems (POTS) where available. Using this device a specialist doctor can telematically "move" to the patient's site and instruct unspecialized personnel when handling an emergency or telemonitoring case. Due to the need of storing and archiving of all data interchanged during the telemedicine sessions, we have equipped the consultation site with a multimedia database able to store and manage the data collected by the system. The performance of the system has been technically tested over several telecommunication means; in addition the system has been clinically validated in three different countries using a standardized medical protocol.

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This chapter discusses the impact of adopting application frameworks in the healthcare (HC) domain. It argues the shortcomings of existing HC applications and systems, examines the benefits of application frameworks use during and after the software development, and presents such an application framework. The authors hope that this chapter will put on the table the discussion about the necessity of application frameworks in HC because they strongly believe that the software industry can tremendously benefit from the work done so far in the area of the HC standardization, in order to provide HC-specific application frameworks that will make software development easier and more efficient.

The scope of the chapter is to present a thorough review on the most up to date research and development activities funded by the European Union in the m-health sector and more specifically in the domain of m-Health Innovations for Patient-Centered Care. This review brings to light the latest research directions and trends that are taking place around Europe and the world. The mhealth market is analyzed along with the focusing on the main apps and their classification. Moreover, it presents the trends of the research topics addressed and what are the plans and future activities pushed. The obstacles faced, the pros and cons and the proposed actions, and their match to real life situations are also discussed. The chapter concludes on the current trends and the potential market on m-health solutions and innovations and how they are trying to address the global need for patient-centered care.

The proliferation of mhealth holds great promise for improving human health. The mhealth industry has developed into a vivid ecosystem, growing steadily over the last years with the adoption of new technologies and business models that are transforming healthcare. To this end, the European Commission launched several initiatives offering great funding opportunities for researchers and organizations. The purpose of this chapter is to provide the readers with a macroscopic analysis of the European mhealth-related funded activities of the last decade. The study examines the current situation and future trends in three main axes (innovation, area of application, and adoption) to assess whether the provided mhealth solutions are positioned to have a fundamental impact on healthcare domain. The mhealth research is accelerating fast and holds great promise, improving both patient outcomes while lowering the healthcare costs.

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