7. Automated Health Care Services

In this chapter we would like to share new emerging technologies that are changing the way we access medical care. Despite the rural development and modernization of the way of life, the cost burden of medical care and access to medical care has become a central concern for both developed and underdeveloped countries. The number of people admitted to hospitals and medical expenditures have doubled over the past 10 years. Since the invention of radio, television, and computer, various attempts such as telemedicine have been made for improving access to medical care. Telemedicine is still being actively developed and utilized in developed countries, but its main purpose is to allow medical specialists to remotely diagnose or operate on patients. However, our focus here is the other aspect of accessibility: reducing the cost of medical care by using computerized medical services. We can broadly categorize computerized health care services into four categories: (1) tele-health, (2) automated diagnosis and assessment of health, (3) online health support, and (4) health information management systems. We review the latter three approaches: automated health care systems, highlighting the potential power of each in solving current health care problems.