ABSTRACT
Efficiency is not the only performance measure for which health care lags behind almost all other American industries. Providers of medical services also have a general and, sadly, merited reputation for being ineffective. To survive in highly competitive markets where the overall quality of products has become as important as the costs of producing them, leading companies in nonhealth sectors of the economy have been forced to become effective-to tell customers what to expect and to deliver as promised. The same disciplined improvement needs to be brought to the medical marketplace.
