The Herzlinger and Krasker article unleashed some aggressive
criticism in a lengthy series of "Letters to the Editor" in the Harvard Business Review and in a number of articles elsewhere (e.g., Fitzgerald
and Jacobsen 1987; Gray 1987; Reinhardt 1987). Criticism-quite
naturally- came particularly from those in the not-for-profit health
care sector and, while the methodology, the conclusions, and the time
period of the study (1982, prior to the introduction of the Medicare
prospective payment system) were called into question, the criticisms
were not supported empirically.