Faculty

Background and Expertise:

My most recent book, with Colleen Grogan is Healthy Voices/Unhealthy Silence: Advocating for Poor People's Health (Georgetown University Press, 2007). We examine how representatives for the poor participate in an advisory board process by tying together existing studies; extensive interviews with key players; and an in-depth, first-hand look at the Connecticut Medicaid advisory board's deliberations during the managed care debate. Drawing on the concepts of deliberative democracy, agenda setting, and nonprofit advocacy, we reveal the reasons behind advocates' often unexpected silence on major issues, assess how capable nonprofits are at affecting policy debates, and provide prescriptive advice for creating a participatory process that adequately addresses the health care concerns of the poor and dispossessed.

I am also the Co-Director of the World Cities Project (WCP). Declining birth rates, increased longevity and urbanization have created a new challenge for cities: how to respond to an aging population. The consequences of these trends for quality of life in cities have received scant attention. WCP represents the first effort to compare the performance of health, social and long-term care systems in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo -- the four largest cities among the wealthy nations of the world (http://www.ilcusa.org/pages/projects/world-cities-project.php). Drawing on individual, as well as neighborhood-level data, primary data collection and available secondary data, WCP compares health status and quality of life, informal support and social networks, health and social services, and long term care -- both within and among these cities. By comparing cities that share in common important characteristics, WCP sheds light on the consequences of health and social welfare policies and the lessons of interesting failures and best practices.

Selected Publications :

Gusmano, M.K., D. Weisz, and V.G. Rodwin. 2009. Achieving Horizontal Equity: Lessons From Single Payer Health Care Systems? Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 41(3).

Grogan CM, Gusmano MK. Political strategies of safety-net providers in response to medicaid managed care reforms. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2009 Feb;34(1):5-35. PubMed PMID: 19234292.

Grogan CM, Gusmano MK. The voice of advocates in health care policymaking for the poor. Soc Work Public Health. 2008;23(4):127-56. PubMed PMID: 19213481.

Gusmano MK, Rodwin VG, Weisz D, Das D. A new approach to the comparative analysis of health systems: invasive treatment for heart disease in the US, France, and their two world cities. Health Econ Policy Law. 2007 Jan;2(Pt 1):73-92. PubMed PMID: 186 34672.

Weisz D, Gusmano MK, Rodwin VG, Neuberg LG. Population health and the health system: a comparative analysis of avoidable mortality in three nations and their world cities. Eur J Public Health. 2008 Apr;18(2):166-72. Epub 2007 Aug 9. PubMed PMID: 17690129.

Gusmano MK, Rodwin VG, Weisz D. A new way to compare health systems: avoidable hospital conditions in Manhattan and Paris. Health Aff (Millwood). 2006 Mar-Apr;25(2):510-20. PubMed PMID: 16522605.

Weisz D, Gusmano MK, Rodwin VG. Gender and the treatment of heart disease in older persons in the United States, France, and England: a comparative, population-based view of a clinical phenomenon. Gend Med. 2004 Aug;1(1):29-40. PubMed PMID: 16115581.

Gusmano MK. Review essay. Assisted living. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2004 Dec;29(6):1227-34. PubMed PMID: 15688582.

Fairbrother G, Gusmano MK, Park HL, Scheinmann R. Care for the uninsured in general internists' private offices. Health Aff (Millwood). 2003 Nov-Dec;22(6):217-24. PubMed PMID: 14649449.

Gray BH, Gusmano MK, Collins SR. AHCPR and the changing politics of health services research. Health Aff (Millwood). 2003 Jan-Jun;Suppl Web Exclusives:W3-283-307. PubMed PMID: 14527262.

Gusmano MK, Sparer MS, Brown LD, Rowe C, Gray B. The evolving role and care management approaches of safety-net Medicaid managed care plans. J Urban Health. 2002 Dec;79(4):600-16. PubMed PMID: 12468679.

Gusmano MK, Schlesinger M, Thomas T. Policy feedback and public opinion: the role of employer responsibility in social policy. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2002 Oct;27(5):731-72. PubMed PMID: 12465778.

Rodwin VG, Gusmano MK. The World Cities Project: rationale, organization, and design for comparison of megacity health systems. J Urban Health. 2002 Dec;79(4):445-63. Review. PubMed PMID: 12468666.

Gusmano MK, Fairbrother G, Park H. Exploring the limits of the safety net: community health centers and care for the uninsured. Health Aff (Millwood). 2002 Nov-Dec;21(6):188-94. PubMed PMID: 12442854.

Sparer MS, Brown LD, Gusmano MK, Rowe C, Gray BH. Promising practices: how leading safety-net plans are managing the care of Medicaid clients. Health Aff (Millwood). 2002 Sep-Oct;21(5):284-91. PubMed PMID: 12224894.

Gusmano MK, Schlesinger M. The social roles of Medicare: Assessing Medicare's collateral benefits. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law serial online]. 2001;26:37-79. Available from: Platinum Periodicals. Accessed April 21, 2009, Document ID: 69727798.

Grogan CM, Gusmano MK. How are safety-net providers faring under Medicaid managed care?. Health Aff (Millwood). 1999 Mar-Apr;18(2):233-7.

Complete references and link to NCBI abstracts.

Service Functions:

Secretary, American Political Science Association, Organized Section on Health Politics and Policy.

Board of Editors, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law