Publications of the Council on Health Care Economics and Policy

Books

Policies for an Aging Society: Confronting the Economic and Political Challenges (2002)
Edited by Stuart H. Altman and David Shactman
One in eight Americans today is over the age of 65, and the proportion will increase dramatically in the future. The aging of the population has begun to drive tax and budget decisions and the federal policy agenda, as policy makers and voters look ahead to enormous demands on the health and income security programs.
In the book, based on papers presented at the Council's 1999 Landsowne Conference, Council Chair Stuart H. Altman and Council Project Director David Shactman have gathered experts in public and health policy, economics, law, and management to identify the salient issues and explore realistic options. From positions ranging from liberal to conservative, the contributors take a wide view of the philosophical, economic, and programmatic aspects of the social protection programs for elderly Americans. They ask broad questions and propose integrated conceptions of how our society can best provide for the needs of its aging population.

Learn more, or order the book directly from the publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press
Order the book from Amazon.com

Regulating Managed Care: Theory, Practice and Future Options (1999)
Edited by Stuart H. Altman, Uwe E. Reinhardt and David Shactman
What should be the government's role in a market-oriented health care system? This book offers the rare opportunity to listen while the foremost experts debate this critical social issue. It also provides background on the issue, summarizes key survey findings on how Americans feel about managed care, reviews what areas are thought to need regulation, and examines the effect of proposed regulation on various areas of the health system.
The book is based on papers delivered at the Fifth Princeton Conference held in March, 1998. The book focuses on the timely topic of managed care regulation, and includes informed analysis and commentary from a variety of viewpoints.

View the book's table of contents
Learn more or order the book directly from the publisher, Jossey-Bass
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The Future U.S. Healthcare System: Who Will Care for the Poor and Uninsured? (1997)
Edited by Stuart H. Altman, Uwe E. Reinhardt, and Alexandra E. Shields
After the rejection of national healthcare reform, the U.S. healthcare system remains in flux. The tens of millions of uninsured Americans, and the severe strains on employer-provided coverage represent the most critical challenge facing our system. This book gathers the leading experts in health policy to examine the options for improving health care access to those without coverage.

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Articles

More Beds for Boomers! Following the Council's conference last spring on the future of the American hospital, Stuart Altman and David Shactman continue to warn that hospitals will need more beds and will also need sufficient capital to build them. See their commentary that appeared in the March 8th issue of Modern Healthcare. Click here to access this article.

Papers and Reports

The staff of the Council periodically issues research papers and reports and occasionally commissions papers from Council members or other experts. Although these reports are often prepared in consultation with Council staff, they reflect the ideas of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Council or of its individual members. We have provided the full text of some of these reports and authorization is hereby granted to download and reproduce those publications. Other reports are not available electronically either because of future publication rights or due to the request of the authors. In some cases, copies of these papers can be ordered from the Council by mail, telephone or e-mail.
 
Many of these publications are made available on the internet in the Adobe Acrobat .PDF format.  If you do not have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, required to read these reports, download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Crumbling Retiree Health Benefits: Who Will Bear the Burden of a Failing System?

The Current State of Retiree Health Benefits. Tricia Neuman, Sc.D., Vice President; Director, Medicare Policy Project; The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Reorganizing Retiree Health Care in Bankrupcy. Kurt T. Slawson, J.D., Assistant General Counsel, U.S. Airways.

Retiree Health Benefits in the Public Sector. Steven Kreisberg, Associate Director for Research and Collective Bargaining, AFSCME.

Changing the Age of Medicare Eligibility: Implications for Older Adults, Employers and the Government. Richard W. Johnson, Ph.D., Principal Research Associate, The Urban Institute.

Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age With a Buy-In Option: Can One Stone Kill Three Birds? Richard W. Johnson, Principal Research Associate, and Robert D. Reischauer, President, The Urban Institute.

Can One Stone Kill Three Birds? Raising Medicare's Age of Eligibility. Robert D. Reischauer, Ph.D., President, The Urban Institute.

Crumbling Retiree Health Benefits: Political & Policy Perspectives. Dean A. Rosen, J.D., Principal, Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti.

Crumbling Retiree Health Benefits: Who Will Bear the Burden of a Failing System? John Rother, J.D., Director of Policy and Strategy, AARP.

 

The Twelfth Princeton Conference: How Will the States Pay for Health Care?

Building a New Partnership Between the Federal Government and the States. Stuart Butler, Vice President for Domestic and Economic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation.

Medicaid Coverage for Poor Adults: A Potential Building Block for Bipartisan Health Reform. Stan Dorn, Senior Policy Analyst, Economic and Social Research Institute.

The Case for Investing in Quality in Medicaid. Stephen A. Somers, President, Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc., Nikki Highsmith and Melanie Bella.

How Will States Pay for Long Term Care? Susan C. Reinhard, Co-Director, Rutgers Center for State Health Policy.

 

Specialty Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, and General Hospitals: Charting a Wise Public Policy

Clinical Focus in Health Care: Some International Lessons. John Chilingerian, Ph.D., Professor, Brandeis University.

Adverse Effect of Physician-Owned Limited Service Facilities: Healthy Competition Depends on Level Playing Field. Charles N. Kahn III, President, Federation of American Hospitals; and Jeff Cohen, Vice President for Legislation, Federation of American Hospitals.

 

The Eleventh Princeton Conference: Managing Cost and Quality Through the Health Care Delivery System

Will Care Management Improve the Value of U.S. Health Care? Robert Mechanic, M.B.A., Senior Fellow, Brandeis University

Chronic Care Improvement in Medicare FFS: Cosmetic or Transforming? Sandra M. Foote, Sc.M., Director Health Insurance Reform Project

Issue Brief prepared by David Shactman

Health Insurance Expansions 2004: Examining the Options

An Overview and Analysis of the Democratic Presidential Candidates' Health Care Reform Proposals, Kenneth E. Thorpe, Ph.D., Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair, Emory University

Health Reform in the 2004 Election: An Overview of the Plans, Jeanne M. Lambrew, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Service

How Federalism Could Spur Bipartisan Action on the Uninsured, Henry J. Aaron, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution and Stuart Butler, Ph.D., Vice President of Domestic Policy, The Heritage Foundation

Health Insurance Coverage Returns to the National Agenda: The Health Insurance Expansion Proposals of the 2004 Presidential Candidates, Sara R. Collins, Senior Program Officer, The Commonwealth Fund; Karen Davis, Ph.D., President, The Commonwealth Fund; Jeanne M. Lambrew, Ph.D., Associate Professor, George Washington University

Issue Brief prepared by Michael Doonan, David Shactman

Issue Brief prepared by Michael Doonan, David Shactman and Stuart H. Altman.

Regional Disparities in Health Spending: Implications for the Private Market and Medicare, Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., President and Vice Chancellor, The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center

 

Medical Malpractice in Crisis: Health Care Policy Options (March 2003)

Background paper prepared by Council research associate, Brian P. Rosman.

Issue Brief prepared by David Shactman, Michael Doonan and Brian P. Rosman.

Understanding The First Malpractice Crisis Of The 21st Century, William Sage, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School

The Medical Malpractice "Crisis": Recent Trends and the Impact of State Tort Reforms, Kenneth E. Thorpe, Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair, Dep't of Health Policy & Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Malpractice Liability and Medical Error Prevention: Strange Bedfellows?, Michelle M. Mello, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Law, Harvard School of Public Health

Reimagining Medicaid: The Evolving Federal Role in Medicaid (September 2002)

Council Policy Brief

Background paper prepared by Council research associate, Michael Doonan, Ph.D.

Reimagining Medicaid?, Trish Riley, Executive Director, National Academy of State Health Policy

Can Health Care Spending Be Contained? (June 2002)

Can Health Care Spending Be Contained? - A compilation of papers published in Health Affairs Web Exclusives and the Council Policy Brief summarizing the meeting. [note: large download]

Council Policy Brief

Overcrowded Emergency Rooms: Do We Need More Capacity Or Fewer Patients? (Jan. 2002)

Utilization and Overcrowding of Hospital Emergency Departments, David Shactman (meeting background paper)

What is the Role of Primary Care in Emergency Department Overcrowding?, Robin Weinick, John Billings and Helen Burstin

The Future of the American Hospital (Dec. 2001)

The Future of the American Hospital: The Structure of the Hospital and the Industry, Brian Rosman (meeting background paper)

The Hospital Nurse Workforce: Problems and Prospects, Linda Aiken

Demographics of the Register Nurse Workforce: Trouble Now, Big Trouble Ahead, Peter Buerhaus

The Economics of Prescription Drug Pricing (March 2001)

Background Paper: The Economics of Prescription Drug Pricing, Michael Doonan

Renewed Health Care Spending Growth: Implications and Policy Options (January 2001)

Outlook for Health Care Trends, John P. Cookson

Rising Health Care Costs and Numbers of People Without Health Insurance, Katherine Swartz

Expanding Health Insurance / Strengthening the Safety Net: Policy Options and Trade-Offs (April 2000)

Purchasing Health Care for the Uninsured, Paul Offner

Net Gains & Losses: State Perspectives On The Coverage vs. Direct Care Debate, Trish Riley

Using Tax Credits to Reduce the Number of Uninsured (December, 1999)

Background Paper: Using Tax Credits to Reduce the Number of Uninsured, Brian P. Rosman

Cutting Taxes for Insuring: Options and Effects of Tax Credits for Health Insurance, Mark Pauly and Bradley Herring

Transcending Employer-Based Health Insurance, Stuart Butler

Assessing Employment-Based Insurance and its Alternatives, Henry Aaron

Technological Change and the Cost of Health Care (Feb. 1999)

Health Status, Technological Innovation, and Health Care Expenditures, Cindy Parks Thomas

Older Materials:

Back to the Future or Forward to the Past? The Near-Term Outlook for Private Health Insurance Spending, Thorpe, Kenneth E. (September, 1998)  [Click here to view or download the associated slide presentation] 

Health Insurance for the Near Elderly, Shactman, David, Altman, Stuart H., & Thomas, Cindy P. (May 1998).

Health Coverage for the Near Elderly: Testimony before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Shactman, David (June 1998).

The Conversion of Hospitals from Not-for-Profit to For-Profit Status, Shactman, David, & Altman Stuart H. (September 1996).

State Regulation of Health Industry Conversions From Not-for-Profit to For-Profit Status, Shactman, David & Fishman, Andrea (December 1996).

A Study of the Decline in Employment Based Health Insurance, Shactman, David & Altman, Stuart H. (May 1995).

The Combined Impact on Hospitals of Reduced Spending for Medicare, Medicaid and Employer Sponsored Insurance, Thorpe, Kenneth E., Shactman, David, Altman, Stuart H., & Shields, Alexandra E. (November 1995).

Mergers, Consolidation and Antitrust: Charting an Appropriate Public Policy, Shactman, D. & Altman, S.H. (September 1995)

Market Concentration, Antitrust, and Public Policy in the Health Care Industry, Shactman, D. (November 1994).

Other Council Reports (contact Pat Aloise for more information):

      "Anticipating the Number of Uninsured Americans and the Demand for Uncompensated Care:  The Combined Impact of Proposed Medicaid Reductions and Erosion of Employer Sponsored Insurance." Thorpe, K.E., Shields, A.E., Gold, H., Altman, S.H., and Shactman, D. (1995).
      
      Examining the Decline in Employment Based Health Insurance." Shactman, D. & Altman, S.H.,  Compensation & Benefits Management (Spring, 1996).    

      Policy Options for Reforming the Medicare Program - Papers from The Princeton Conference on Medicare Reform.  Edited by Stuart H. Altman, Ph.D., Uwe Reinhardt, Ph.D., and David Shactman, M.P.A., M.B.A.