Sasha IssenbergOutpatients: The Astonishing New World of Medical Tourism

Really quite interesting. Too short though, that's why I gave it four stars. The author does a fine job of exploring Bulgaria and Hungary's medical tourism growth and evolution, which I found fascinating. Those two countries can serve as case studies for other regions trying to get into the game... and what a game it is! Medical tourism involves so many working parts and peoples that I can't fault the author for not taking us by the hand for a complete journey from one country to another for a treatment but maybe that will be the next book to read?! As I said, it's a short read, but keep your notebook handy as you'll want to mark up the text!

Overall, pretty good. Well written and pretty well edited, with interesting material related to the title topic. It is my first "Columbia Global Reports", and if I'd understood that collection better I might have tempered my expectations of the book somewhat differently. This is not a deep treatise on Global medical tourism, but it is a fairly interesting exploration and explanation of how entrepreneurial dentistry in Eastern Europe influenced the respective local and national economies and health tourism policies of the sites involved. There are some broader examples and generalizations (of medical tourism) later in the book, but the greatest amount of work was placed on the former material. I think the title, more specifically the subtitle, was a little too broad for the material. Bottom line, a good read with a fairly narrow focus within a much broader topic.

Succinct and thoughtful on a relatively unexplored topic.

Things are different today. This was a different read for me. Interesting. Could have lived without it. Gained some perspective as a result. Not bad. Just not my wheelhouse to speak critically on. Read and decide for yourself.