To me the author makes one fatal mistake in the article and that is assuming all hospitals could run as well as the Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic is the best managed medical institution in the country. There are books written about it's management (http://www.amazon.com/Management-Lessons-Mayo-Clinic-Organiz...). Assuming every hospital can match it's efficiency isn't realistic.

Coming up with a universal system for anything requires planning for the worst possible scenario not the best.