Managing Telehealth and Telecare

Abstract

With the world population ageing, it will become more challenging to provide sufficient care for older people. Telehealth and telecare have been widely promoted as an important part of the solution. However, this raises the question of how to manage a computer-based home care system. The chapter describes an approach called ACCENT (Advanced Component Control Enhancing Network Technologies) that allows effective management of a home care system. ACCENT offers a flexible architecture that encompasses a variety of devices used in the home to support telehealth and telecare. This is coupled with a policy-based management system that allows user-defined goals and policy rules to decide how the home system should react to changing circumstances. A variety of user-friendly interfaces are described for users to conveniently create goals and policies. Evaluations of the approach are discussed. Open problems in this field are provided, along with how future developments will address these.