Policy challenges in modern health care / edited by David Mechanic ... [et al.].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Mechanic, David, 1936-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medical policy--United States.

Medical policy.

Health care reform--United States.

Health care reform.

Health services accessibility--United States.

Health services accessibility.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (290 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Health care delivery in the United States is an enormously complex enterprise, and its .6 trillion annual expenditures involve a host of competing interests. While arguably the nation offers among the most technologically advanced medical care in the world, the American system consistently under performs relative to its resources. Gaps in financing and service delivery pose major barriers to improving health, reducing disparities, achieving universal insurance coverage, enhancing quality, controlling costs, and meeting the needs of patients and families. Bringing together twenty-five of the nation’s leading experts in health care policy and public health, this book provides a much-needed perspective on how our health care system evolved, why we face the challenges that we do, and why reform is so difficult to achieve. The essays tackle tough issues including: socioeconomic disadvantage, tobacco, obesity, gun violence, insurance gaps, the rationing of services, the power of special interests, medical errors, and the nursing shortage. Linking the nation’s health problems to larger political, cultural, and philosophical contexts, Policy Challenges in Modern Health Care offers a compelling look at where we stand and where we need to be headed.

Contents:

Morality, politics, and health policy / James A. Morone

Cross pressures / Theda Skocpol and Patricia Seliger Keenan

The employer-based health insurance system / Sherry A. Glied

Entrepreneurial challenges to integrated health care / James C. Robinson

Fundamental sources of health inequalities / Bruce G. Link and Jo C. Phelan

A public health approach to firearms policy / David Hemenway

Tobacco policy in the United States / Kenneth E. Warner

Patterns and causes of disparities in health / David R. Williams

Addressing racial inequality in health care / Sara Rosenbaum and Joel Teitelbaum

Still demanding medical excellence / Michael L. Millenson

Preventing medical errors / Lucian L. Leap

Improving quality through nursing / Linda H. Aiken

Improving medicare for beneficiaries with disabilities / Lisa I. Iezzoni

Specialization, specialty organizations, and the quality of health care / Rosemary A. Stevens

Integrating people with mental illness into health insurance and social services / Richard G. Frank and Thomas G. McGuire

Accountability for reasonable limits to care / Norman Daniels.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

1-283-59194-4

9786613904393

0-8135-4109-3

OCLC:

806204987