Reverse Innovation refers to the concept of taking processes and findings from the developing world and applying to the developed world. In this instance, the country being focused on is India and how several health systems have created innovative ways of cost savings and improved access while maintaining or improving quality of care for all. The last section then focuses on how some United States hospitals and health systems have been able to utilize similar innovations to change the care model.

It was a really interesting read and I have already recommended to book to 10+ people within my organization. We are limited in the Unites States by the regulatory agencies, the payer relationships and the focus on MD pay/satisfaction. This is not always going to be true and the sooner we look at innovative models and have the legislation follow, the better we all will be.

I remember reading some of this book in short form in Harvard Business Review a while ago. Dr. Govindarajan and Ravi Ramamurti focus on business management innovations in health care in India and they ask, not unreasonably, why these same ideas can't be adopted here. They use "reverse innovation" to describe the adoption process. My reaction to this consolidation and expansion into book form is about the same:

1. I don't think the term "reverse innovation" is a graceful one because to my literal mind it sounds like reversing innovation to go backward. However, it was coined by Dr. Govindarajan and colleagues in some of their earlier work and he is a well known business management researcher who certainly has naming rights. If he were older, though, he might have revived the more descriptive and philosophically aligned "appropriate technology".

2. This was important information then, as it is now, but why hasn't it caught on? Why is the USA such a health care, and health insurance mess when there are other profitable business models we could be using for health insurance and health care?

In this book I was struck by the story of Ascension Health and Iora Health, two of the US case studies described that were not growing until they self-organized insurance programs. One by partnering with a private health insurance company, and the other by working out a fixed fee program. Another of the US case studies, the University of Mississippi Medical Center telemedicine program, was forced to devise a work around to a state rule that prohibited payment for the telemedicine. Eventually that law was changed.

I am covered by an international policy that pays my hospitalization and outpatient fees around the world wherever I am. It has been a joy to be free of the stupid choices Americans must make between work and insurance. I have friends stuck in the US health insurance nightmare so I tend to see insurance as the big evil. This book is not about insurance, but it is the gorilla in the room.

I realize that Dr. Govindarajan and Dr. Ramamurti are working in the USA, but I also wonder if they have approached Sweden, a country that builds cars and has a single payer health program. Or Switzerland, an advanced country that is not in the EU. It would seem to me that countries like that would be a better first adopters than the USA where these earnest men seem to be tilting at windmills.

I received a review copy of "Reverse Innovation in Health Care: How to Make Value-Based Delivery Work" by Vijay Govindarajan and Ravi Ramamurti (Harvard Business Review Press) through NetGalley.com.

There are so many things that US health care industry can improve on. This book presents paradigm shifting ideas on how to take innovation from India and apply it to US settings. I’ve learned a lot.

This is the first time I’ve learned that a hospital can charge very low price while maintaining high quality, not to mention gain profit in the process. If it’s possible in one hospital then it can also work in other given the right combination of factors.

I had no expectations when I began the book in terms of content but wanted to be informed of whats happening in health care. A little while into the book, I realised that I read an article by the authors in HBR on reverse innovation.
But when I saw the picture of a pocket ultrasound machine, the concept of making things for less hit home, similar to Musk's question of how much should a rocket cost?
I have heard of Aravinda Eye Hospital and LV Prasad Eye Institute but not of Narayana Hrudayalaya. The book goes into great detail of how the chosen hospitals in India are able to provide great service at a fraction of international cost.
How can that be brought to US? There are already some institutions in partnership with learning from the above. Ascension, Iora Health, UMMC and other are examples that have been dealt in a very interesting fashion to make the reader understand what stops the US health care from innovating. Did you know of the certificate-for-need that needs to done before a new health center can show up?
There is an element of suspense with the HCCI, if the practices in india stand to the test of the Western model.
The book ends with a set of recommendations and questions to reduce the healthcare costs in US. It was revelatory to read that GM has to add more than a grand to the cost of the car, so they can maintain the rising health cost for their pensioners.
I learned a lot in terms of innovations. How a toymaker made a voicebox for $1 possible? Kanav Kohal's Swathya Slate.
I would recommend this book to all the people in healthcare, those interested in knowing the role of health coaches in keeping the costs down, cross-industry innovation, economies of scope, hub and spoke model for task-shifting.