It rejected the government's claim the British health service is efficient and gets more from its money than similar organisations abroad.
The University of California team said patients treated by a non-profit health service in the state had access to significantly more specialists than those in Britain, spent only a third as much time in hospital and had more time with doctors
 If a Kaiser patient moved to the NHS they would be horrified  |
Professor Richard Feachem |
They said the US organisation, Kaiser Permanente, offered the NHS valuable lessons on how to provide cost-effective care, integrate services and use information technology to ensure efficiency.
The report also highlighted the importance of competition in the US, claiming patients receive high quality care because health firms know they can go elsewhere if they are unhappy.
A spokesman for the British Department of Health said the findings showed there was still a long way to go with the modernisation of the NHS.
Professor Richard Feachem, one of the authors of the report, told BBC News Online British people should be asking questions about the standard of care they receive.
He said: "It is certainly true that the experience of the Kaiser patients in terms of access to care, the quality of it, and the friendliness and responsiveness of nurses is very much better than in the NHS.
"If an NHS patient moved to Kaiser they would be delighted with the experience, and if a Kaiser patient moved to the NHS they would be horrified."
Comments