Preface

Biomedical Meets eHealth – From Sensors to Decisions

Already todaybut even more in the futureICT systems in healthcarebiomedical systems and devices will increasingly be intertwined and share a common entity, which is data. This completes the chain and flow of information from the sensor via the processing to the actuator, which can be anything from a human healthcare professional to a robot. Along this pathway, methods for automating the information processing, like signal processing, machine learning, predictive analytics and decision support, play an increasing role to provide actionable information and to support personalized and preventive health care concepts, in both biomedical and digital healthcare systems and applications.

Both scientific disciplines, i.e. biomedical engineering and health informatics, are also closely related to each other and it is often difficult to delineate where the one ends and the other begins.

This starts with the practical settings, for example, in hospitals. Traditionally, there are two different organizational entities working together, i.e. the healthcare engineering and the ICT departments. The first primarily take care of the “hardware”, i.e. appliances, devices and systems, for example imaging equipment like Ultrasound machines or CT scanners. The latter take care of conveying the data generated by these items to the bedside and the healthcare specialists via Health Information Systems (HIS), Radiology Information Systems (RIS) or Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). However, these systems are interrelated and – as an example – it becomes more and more difficult to locate errors when combined systems come down. In the end, security is also a common concern and standards like the IEC 80001: Application of risk management for IT-networks incorporating medical devices address these overarching needs.

A look to the international level reveals, for example, that the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS),

https://www.embs.org/

the world's leading biomedical Engineering society, has named one of its flagship conferences “Biomedical and Health Informatics”. As such, the name of this conference by itself very much integrates both worlds and in recent years this conference has been organized adjacent to the HIMSS Annual Conference on Healthcare IT, also evidence of the synergies that can be achieved by keeping these two topics close to each other. Therefore, it is fitting, that our opening keynote speaker, Prof. Nigel Lovell, has not only significantly contributed to both aspects in his professional and scientific life, but also currently happens to be the IEEE EMBS president.

Finally, since its beginning in 2007, the scientific backbone of our annual conference has been the working group for “Medical Informatics and eHealth” of the Austrian Society of Biomedical Engineering (OEGBMT)

http://www.oegbmt.at/arbeitsgruppen/medizinische-informatik-und-ehealth/

and the Austrian Computer Society (OCG).

https://www.ocg.at/medizinische-informatik-und-ehealth

This unique group was founded by Prof. Günther Gell in 1981 and, since then, has been a forum for the many scientists, experts and practitioners with a stake in both worlds. As such, this year's subtitle was also motivated by making this long-lasting partnership more explicit.

Graz, March 2018

Günter Schreier

Dieter Hayn