Book excerpt: Medical informatics is increasingly central to the effective and efficient delivery of healthcare today. This book presents the proceedings of the European Federation for Medical Informatics Special Topic Conference (EFMI STC 2017), held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in October 2017. The theme and title of the 2017 edition of this annual conference is ‘The practice of patient centered care: Empowering and engaging patients in the digital era’. The aim of the conference series is to increase interaction and collaboration between the stakeholder groups from both health and ICT across, but not limited to, Europe by providing a platform for researchers, data scientists, practitioners, decision makers and entrepreneurs to discuss sustainable and inclusive digital health innovations aimed at the engagement and empowerment of patients/consumers. The book is divided into 3 sections: full papers, short communications, and posters, and covers a wide range of topics from the field of medical informatics. It will be of interest to healthcare planners and providers everywhere.