Hans van den Heuvel

Cost-effectiveness assessment is needed to rationalize embracement and reimbursement. Policy makers should consider the international frameworks of legislation to support and implement this new form of care. We accentuate that more research is needed, including economic evaluation of e-health interventions. Growing engagement of calls for funding have responded: more large funding associations focus on the application of e-health, warranting the qualitative impact of the studies in the application designs. 110 Also, the potential of technology raised a nearly quadrupled amount of money in venture capital funding, from $1.1 billion in 2011 to $4.3 billion in 2015. 111 Despite the challenges of privacy, liability and costs, e-health is very likely to disperse globally in the next decade. Some even state healthcare is approaching a tipping point. 112 The current shift to patient-centered care and increased patient empowerment underlines the need for revising current medical practice. E-health has the potential to be integrated into standard care and deliver a revolution in perinatal health. CHAPTER 2 30