A growing, aging population; the rise to epidemic proportions of various chronic diseases; competing, often overlapping medical technologies; and of course, skyrocketing costs compounded by waste and inefficiency - these are just a few of the multifarious challenges currently facing healthcare delivery. An

Section 1 Key Concepts, Tools and Techniques.- Introduction.- Chapter 1 Lean Principles for Healthcare.- Chapter 2 Artificial Neural Network Excellence to Facilitate Lean Thinking Adoption in Healthcare Contexts.- Chapter 3 The Suitability of Artificial Neural Networks in Service Quality Control and Forecasting.- Chapter 4 The Application of Lean in the Healthcare Sector: Theory and Practical Examples.- Chapter 5 Business Value of IT in Health Care.- Chapter 6 Initiatives of Service Orientated Architecture towards Performance Improvement in Healthcare.- Chapter 7 Adapted Lean Thinking for Emergency Departments: Information Quality Perspective.-Section 2 Applications of Lean Thinking Around the Healthcare World.- Introduction.- Chapter 8 Adapted Lean Thinking for for Healthcare Services: An Empirical Study in the Traditional Chinese Hospital.- Chapter 9 Lean Thinking in Dementia Care Through Smart Assistive Technology - an Evaluation.- Chapter 10 A Delphi Study on Developing a Conceptual Framework to Understand the Perception of Iranian Physicians Towards Electronic Health Records.- Chapter 11 Trying to Streamline Healthcare Delivery in Australia via the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record(PCEHR).- Chapter 12 Identifying Critical Issues for Developing Successful E-health Solutions.- Chapter 13 Applying the Principles of KM to Effect Streamlined Healthcare Operations: A Malaysian Case Study.- Chapter 14 Re-making Rosa Medical Center: A 5-Step Approach to Transitioning with Lean.- Chapter 15 Lean Thinking and Customer Focus.- Section 3 Macro issues.- Introduction.- Chapter 16 Applying A System of Systems Approach to Healthcare.- Chapter 17 The Role for a Healthcare System of Systems Approach Coupled with Collaborative Technologies to Provide Superior Healthcare Delivery.- Chapter 18 The Role Of A Disruptive Pervasive Technology Solution to Facilitate Better Healthcare Delivery to Native American Patients.- Chapter 19 Designing Enabling Regulatory Frameworks to Facilitate the Diffusion of Wireless Technology Solutions in Healthcare.- Chapter 20 Improving healthcare service quality and patients' life quality through mobile technologies: the case of Diabetes self-management.- Chapter 21 The Role of Online Social Networks in Consumer Health Informatics: An Example of the Implicit Incorporation of Lean Principles.- Chapter 22 Supporting preventative healthcare with persuasive services.- Chapter 23 Using Technology Solutions to Streamline Healthcare Processes for Nursing: The Case of an Intelligent Operational Planning  Support Tool (IOPST) Solution.- Chapter 24 Using an e-health Strategy to facilitate the design and development of effective healthcare processes.-Section 4 Micro issues.- Introduction.- Chapter 25 Value Stream Mapping in Lean Healthcare: A brief Introduction and Application.- Chapter 26 Using Value Stream Mapping to Improve Processes in a  Urology Department.- Chapter 27 A Technology Mediated Solution to Reduce Healthcare Disparities.-Section 5 Case Studies.-Introduction. - Chapter 28  Process models, its inefficiencies and recommendations of the emergency department of the Marienhospital.- Chapter 29  Simulation Study - Clinical Center Esslingen.- Chapter 30 Emergency Department Katharinenhospital Stuttgar.- Chapter 31 Business Process Modeling and measuring waiting times in a German ED. An approach for identifying improvements.