Improving access to health care through total quality management.

Editor's Note: The intense interest in adapting principles of industrial quality control to health care is frequently identified in terms of total quality management (TQM). Introduction and implementation of these programs hospital-wide is a characteristic focus of that interest. This commentary by Drs. Miller and Milakovich discusses an even broader implication for these TQM approaches. They suggest their application to health care systems, not only to enhance quality, but to improve access as well, through the revenues generated by increased efficiency.