India’s immense socioeconomic, ethnic, epidemiological and demographic diversity creates fertile ground for innovation, and this holds true in the healthcare sector. Currently, most healthcare in India is of an on-demand, curative nature, and is primarily provided by hospitals and private practitioners. Addressing healthcare challenges and offering innovative solutions requires a thorough understanding of the continuum of care. Healthcare offers three windows of opportunity for innovation at three different levels of care 1. Prevention: Screening for diseases, behaviour change communication, health awareness and education 2. Provision: Diagnostic and treatment services 3. Protection: Long-term follow-ups, preventing relapses, monitoring patterns.

Process innovation, on the other hand, employs improvisation or disruption of internal processes, health resources and delivery systems. It helps healthcare organizations to raise their productivity, reach and affordability, while maintaining quality and profitability. Typical examples of process innovation in India include space technology for telemedicine at remote areas, capacity building through e learning platforms etc Policy/Paradigm innovation relates to ideas that redefine the dominant paradigm of a sector. It could include a policy, a process or a product that influence the internal and external trends of the organization and refocuses towards a holistic goal. There are many examples of paradigm innovation in the Indian scenario, for example The Ayushman Bharat initiative by the Government of India that aims to attain universal healthcare through its two flagship components: health and wellness centres, and the National Health Protection Scheme is a concurrent example of a paradigm innovation with potential to change the healthcare ecosystem in India. The healthcare industry in India is witnessing a rapid pace of innovation, marked by an entry of foreign investors, disruptive healthcare models, frugal innovations, digital revolution and a shift from product innovation to process innovation. It is a collective challenge, and yet an opportunity, for us to embrace innovation and incorporate sound investment strategies, while prioritizing patients’ experience. We need to look for patterns of failures and inefficiency, and then offer a solution. Those who do, are poised to create a revolution and challenge the notion of healthcare being an ostentatious field. Those who don’t, will soon become obsolete.