Politicians and business leaders have accepted the conventional wisdom that health care costs are largely responsible for America’s competitiveness problem. In fact, much of the current health care debate is driven by this belief. Yet our research at the Huntsman Center for Global Competition and Leadership at the Wharton School of Business suggests that this focus on costs has obscured a potential solution to the health care crisis: the diligent management of health care delivery.
A version of this article appeared in the March–April 1993 issue of Harvard Business Review.