Depending on your place of residence, you might have a different conception of the meaning, objectives, and raison d’être of healthcare services. There are many dichotomies that might be applied to classify healthcare systems, namely public versus private, urban versus rural, personalized versus general, and so on. Regardless of the class in which we place our model of healthcare, it is highly probable to find a common trend: the adoption of information and communications technology (ICT). From the already “old” electronic healthcare records (EHRs) to the emerging wearable technology that monitors our health, ICT is immanently present in healthcare.

Obviously, the adoption of ICT within the healthcare sector is in response to different needs that depend on the model. For example, public healthcare systems might want to invest in ICT to cut down on spending and increase the number of outpatients. On the other side, private healthcare systems might invest in ICT to project the image that they are in the vanguard of medical assistance, thus attracting more patients and clients and increasing their revenue. Needless to say, there are many other reasons.

In the end, for one reason or another, in one model or another, ICT has been adopted and it is here to stay. Hence, as a result of the ubiquity of technology and its use within the healthcare sector, the new concept of pervasive health was born; it is the subject covered in this edited book.

This book is a collection of 14 chapters written by different authors. In most cases, edited books by many different authors tend to be loosely coupled; it is hard to find a main theme that holds the chapters together as a unified body. This book is no exception to the common trend. However, it is apparent that some efforts were made to provide a common scaffolding to organize the contents in each chapter. Most chapters, though not all, start with an introduction followed by a glossary and the state of the art of the subject being covered. Then, an “Open Problems” section aims to point out the most relevant scientific challenges of the field, followed by a “Future Outlook” section that tries to suggest emerging trends. Chapters conclude with a closing section to sum up the main arguments and a generally long list of references for further reading.

Due to the fact that each chapter is independent from the others, it is easy to jump directly to one of personal interest; there is neither a suggested nor recommended way of reading them. The reader will find chapters covering a diverse collection of subjects, including ambient assisted living (health at home), brain-computer interfaces, rehabilitation platforms, telemedicine, and elderly-oriented and disabled-oriented assistive devices. It can hardly be said that the book provides a complete overview of the pervasive healthcare landscape, but it contributes some nice pieces and many references that might interest researchers and practitioners already familiar with the topic.

Pervasive health and its related topics (for example, electronic health, mobile health, and smart health) are of paramount importance and deserve attention. There is no doubt that in the years to come, many efforts will be devoted to improving healthcare systems, in order to cope with an increasing aging population and the need for cost reduction. Although this book is not the ultimate reference on pervasive health, it does its bit. However, due to the broad spectrum of covered topics, readers should look at the table of contents before buying the book to verify that some of the 14 chapters actually interest them.