Health Policy Commons^™

Fairness Issues In Law And Mental Health: Directions For Future Social Work Research, Jose B. Ashford, Jane Holschuh

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Concepts from the procedural justice literature in social psychology are examined that offer useful guidance for social work researchers with interests in investigating informal adjudications, speciality treatment courts, and other areas of the administrative process previously neglected in mental health services research. These theoretical concepts are offered as an alternative to the therapeutic jurisprudence framework being adopted by some social workers in the field of law and mental health. The issues outlined in this paper also draw on the health services and psychotherapy literature to highlight issues involving process and procedure as social justice and their significance for advancing a …

The Politics Of Mental Health After Care, Steve Rose

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Essential to the development of a positive practice in mental health after-care is a precise formulation of clients' needs. Clarity about a statement of needs provides added information about anticipated obstacles to meeting those needs, both at the client and systemic levels. To accomplish this preliminary task, it becomes necessary to create what we refer to as a "problem definitional" level of theory. Problem defining theory mediates between more global theory, which establishes a larger context for understanding the broad policy issues and direct implications,* and the articulation of practice theory.

Organizational Structure And Professional Norms In An Alternative Health Care Setting: Physicians In Health Maintenance Organizations, Judith K. Barr, Marcia K. Steinberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The development of new organizational forms for the delivery of health and medical care in the U.S. includes health maintenance organizations (HMOs), designed to provide a set of comprehensive basic health services to a defined population for a fixed prepaid premium. As complex organizations, HMOs have the potential for limiting the autonomy of professionals working in them. This paper describes the legal requirements and organizational mechanisms under which physicians practice in HMOs and considers the potential for conflict between the organization and professional norms.

On the basis of document and interview data from nine HMOs, it appears that mechanisms developed …

The Paradoxes Of Health Planning, Bonnie Morel Edington

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The National Health Planning Act of 1974 designated 200 Health Systems Agencies (HSAs) nationally and a State Health Planning and Development Agency in each state. Components of the law are analyzed to illustrate its ambiguities and contradictions. The components analyzed are: the findings which led to the passage of the law; the law's purpose; the ten national health priorities; the National Guidelines for Health Planning; the purposes of the HSAs and the data they are to assemble and analyze. The major contradiction is that agencies designated to focus on cost containment in health care are expected to make health care …

Lessons From Private Health Insurance, Martha N. Ozawa

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

All across the country there is a sense of urgency, and even of crisis over what is happening in the health industry. Of special concern are the rapid rate of increase in the cost of health care services and the increasing national expenditures for health care. For fiscal year 1976, the total U.S. spending for health care reached $149.8 billion, or a per capita expenditure of $638. Expressed as a percentage of the gross national product (GNP), the national spending for health care reached a record-breaking 8.6 percent.1 From the early 1960s--except during the period from August 1971 through April …