Hospitals that overemphasize cost effectiveness and doctors, nurses, and medical technicians that seek to streamline personnel management make patients spend more time registering, sitting in waiting rooms, and obtaining medication than being examined and diagnosed by physicians.
由於醫院太過講求績效，醫生、護士、醫檢師也趨向精簡，才會有「三長兩短」的後遺症──掛號、等診、拿藥時間長，看病、診斷時間短。