Rochefort updates his classic comprehensive review of mental health policy issues in American society, beginning with early practices that predate the formal "mental health system" and ending with current debates about parity insurance coverage for mental illnesses, managed care, and Medicaid reform. At the same time, he provides a perspective on mental health policy analysis that draws on diverse work in the policy sciences, looks to both applied and theoretical concerns, and gives full recognition to the distinctive nature of mental health care problems. This new edition will be of enhanced value to policymakers in the mental health field as well as to students of American social welfare policy and public administration in general.

Covers the historical, policy and administrative aspects of public mental health care. . . . An important addition to academic libraries serving graduate or upper-division undergraduate programs in public administration, health services, community psychology, or public health. "Choice"

As the social and economic costs associated with mental disorders continue to rise, policymakers and mental health administrators are faced with dwindling budgets and the need for expanded and improved services. This ambitious new work offers a thorough examination of these difficult policy issues, together with studies of the population groups affected and the programs and facilities designed to serve them. Written by twenty-nine specialists in the field, it provides analyses of recent empirical findings and a thoughtful review of the challenges that lie ahead.

The first two chapters examine central policy concerns and the elements that make up the mental health service system. Epidemiological analyses focus on problem populations such as the chronically mentally ill, the elderly, children, minorities, and substance abusers. Mental health policy development is next explored. Specific topics covered include the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, the creation of community mental health programs, the impact of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Block Grant, and the political process of mental health policymaking. The next several chapters look at the record of the community mental health movement, including community residential care, the problem of homelessness, and public mental hospital's changing role. Financial, legal, administrative, and planning issues are also considered. The volume concludes with a discussion of possible future trends in mental health policymaking and administration. An authoritative resource for mental health and human service professionals as well as students and academics in these fields, this book is appropriate for academic, professional, public agency, and large public libraries.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act marked a watershed in U.S. health policy, but controversy over its passage rages on, and much uncertainty surrounds the law's transformation from blueprint into operational program. How can the experience of other nations help us to reconcile the competing goals of universal coverage, cost control, and high quality care? Following an analysis of the 2010 statute, this book surveys developments in different parts of the globe to identify important lessons in health politics, policy design, and program implementation. A concluding chapter examines the issue of resistance to foreign remedies within the process of U.S. health reform.

With the collapse of national health care reform efforts in the early 1990s, states emerged as a focal point for new policy and administrative developments in U.S. health care. This book provides a timely overview of the key issues facing states as they have responded to this challenge. It tells how states are making decisions about health policies and then putting them into action-and how legislatures, executives, courts, and bureaucracies all participate in this process.

"The New Politics of State Health Policy" describes many of the major trends in states' responses to health care problems of the 1990s, and it identifies the forces that will influence state policy actions in the new century. It examines reforms now under way, from Medicaid to tobacco control to mental health, and addresses today's most pressing issues surrounding managed care, health insurance, and public health administration.

Editors Hackey and Rochefort have brought together a distinguished group of scholars and practitioners in the field of health policy analysis. Frank Thompson, Theodore Marmor, Michael Dukakis, and others map out the different institutional frames shaping how each state approaches the health care domain. While some states deliberate over universal coverage, others have shifted to the county level decisions once made in Washington, D.C. But all face the difficulty of taking on unprecedented responsibilities with limited resources amid the often-conflicting concerns of public management and "moral politics."

Each contribution in the volume explores the interplay between state governance and health care policy by addressing four themes: the capacity of states to fulfill their new health care roles, the significance of recent policy changes, patterns in the politics of state health policy making, and the relationship of state-level changes to failed national health care reform. Together, they sound the call for stronger partnerships with both federal agencies and private sector organizations and the need for state officials to engage in broader, "outside-the-box" thinking.

As these essays show, health care policy can only be as good as the governments that make it. "The New Politics of State Health Policy" can help scholars, researchers, and practitioners better assess the programs and policy process in their own states in order to meet the demands of the health care marketplace on the one hand and public expectations on the other.

Rochefort updates his classic comprehensive review of mental health policy issues in American society, beginning with early practices that predate the formal "mental health system" and ending with current debates, about parity insurance coverage for mental illnesses, managed care, and Medicaid reform. At the same time, he provides a perspective on mental health policy analysis that draws on diverse work in the policy sciences, looks to both applied and theoretical concerns, and gives full recognition to the distinctive nature of mental health care problems. This new edition will be of enhanced value to policymakers in the mental health field as well as to students of American social welfare policy and public administration in general.

At the nexus of politics and policy development lies persistent conflict over where problems come from, what they signify, and, based on the answers to those questions, what kinds of solutions should be sought. Policy researchers call this process "problem definition."

Written for both scholars and students, this book explains how and why social issues come to be defined in different ways, how these definitions are expressed in the world of politics, and what consequences these definitions have for government action and agenda-setting dynamics. The authors demonstrate in two theoretical chapters and seven provocative case studies how problem definition affects policymaking for high-profile social issues like AIDS, drugs, and sexual harassment as well as for problems like traffic congestion, plant closings, agricultural tax benefits, and air transportation.

By examining the way social problems are framed for political discussion, the authors illuminate the unique impact of beliefs, values, ideas, and language on the public policymaking process and its outcomes. In so doing, they establish a common vocabulary for the study of problem definition; review and critique the insights of existing work on the topic; and identify directions for future research.

Every methods course needs to provide students with careful explanations and step-by-step guidance on research design and techniques. But how many illustrations are you offering of particular methods in actual research situations? David Rochefort answers this need with a volume of political science readings that helps students take their knowledge of abstract concepts and integrate it into the broader context of social science research and analysis. A reliable source for high quality, yet concise, empirical studies that draws from all sub-fields of political science, PS offers the perfect material to supplement your current text. Rochefort introduces each selection with a substantial headnote to give students context for the type of research and statistical analysis the article utilizes. He then provides a set of questions at the end of each reading that focus on four topics: Why was this research needed? How was this research done? What are the findings? What does it mean? Rochefort also showcases an "Author's Retrospective" that gives scholars an opportunity to speak directly to students about what they want readers to learn from their article, as well as how their perspective on their research has changed since the time of its original publication. An introduction and conclusion speak to the demands of learning statistics "in action" and a Topical Guide in the front of the book points students to readings that focus on particular skills and techniques, covering both research methods (questionnaire design and original data collection, for instance) and quantitative techniques (confidence intervals, graphing, crosstabulation, and regression, to name a few).