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Biomedical subjects

R J Blendon

Publications and source records attributed to R J Blendon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Americans' views on the use and regulation of dietary supplements.

This article presents the views of Americans on what the government's future role should be in regulating or overseeing the growing sales of dietary supplements for health purposes. Based on results of multiple national opinion surveys, including the views of both users and nonusers of supplements, we found that a substantial percentage of Americans surveyed reported that they regularly take dietary supplements as a part of their routine health regimen. However, they reported that they do not discuss the use of dietary supplements with their physicians because they believe that the physicians know little or nothing about these products and may be biased against them. Many users felt so strongly about the potential health benefits of some of these products that they reported that they would continue to take them even if they were shown to be ineffective in scientifically conducted clinical studies. However, there also was broad public support for increased government regulation of these products. We found that a majority of Americans surveyed supported the following: to require that the Food and Drug Administration review the safety of new dietary supplements prior to their sale; to provide increased authority to remove from sale those products shown to be unsafe; and to increase government regulation to ensure that advertising claims about the health benefits of dietary supplements are true.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Political strategy 101: how to make health policy and influence political people.

Many health policy decisions that affect how health care professionals care for their patients are made by the federal government or state and local governments. For most health care professionals, the policy-making process is a mystery. Health policy decisions made by elected and appointed officials in various branches of government are influenced by political factors often unfamiliar to the decision-making process of health care professionals. With some guidance on how to think critically about politics, health care professionals can influence the development, passage, and implementation of government-sponsored health policies that affect their patients. Based on insights gleaned from experience, accounts of the policy-making process, and political science literature, this article describes a process of gathering and analyzing political information that can aid physicians in developing a strategy that will help them influence the political agenda and their patients' care.

Child↗
PubMed1998

The public and the war on illicit drugs.

This article presents what Americans think about the policies subsumed under the label of the "War on Drugs." It is based on an analysis of 47 national surveys conducted between 1978 and 1997. The major results are that most Americans rely on the mass media for information about the scope of the drug abuse problem; Americans do not think that the Wars on Drugs have succeeded, but they do not want to quit on these efforts; weak support exists for increasing funding for drug treatment; support for preventive education has increased during the 1990s; criminal justice responses remain very popular; for many, illicit drug use is a moral rather than a public health issue; the public supports allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana for severe illness, but opposes the general legalization of marijuana and other illicit drugs; and needle exchange programs are supported by a bare majority, but only when they are told that the American Medical Association supports these programs.

Drug and Narcotic Control↗
PubMed1997

What do managed care plans do to affect care? Results from a survey of physicians.

Little is known about physicians' exposure to managed care techniques that affect clinical practice. In 1995, we conducted a survey of 2,003 U.S. physicians asking them about their share of patients subject to a variety of managed care techniques. Nationally, 24% of physicians received some form of capitation payment for their patients. The two most widely used techniques were utilization review (UR), applied to an average of 59% of patients, and discounted fees, applied to an average of 38% of patients. Although UR was common, ultimate denial rates of coverage were very low: at most 3% for the types of care studied. Use of managed care techniques varied more within states than between states. Conventional measures of HMO market penetration revealed little about how managed care affects physicians.

Capitation Fee↗
PubMed1996

All payer, single payer, managed care, no payer: patients' perspectives in three nations.

We present data on patients' experiences with access to and cost and quality of health services in the United States, Canada, and Germany. In general, patients report favorably about their care. U.S. respondents report more problems with access to care, even controlling for the severe problems of the uninsured. Differences in managed care versus fee-for-service plans in the United States mirror some of the problems observed in international comparisons--access to specialists and tests and waiting times for and quality of some services. Different cost containment strategies have measurable effects on patients' perspectives, particularly among patients who are sicker.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The public and the welfare reform debate.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the core beliefs and policy preferences of the American public toward changing the welfare system and providing support for low-income families. DESIGN: Results are presented from 19 telephone and in-person surveys of adults nationwide between 1937 and February 1995. SETTING: At-home interviews with adults. PARTICIPANTS: Seventeen surveys; each survey involved 1000 to 2000 adults nationwide. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The results showed that the public supports strong welfare reform measures (eg, time limits and work requirements), but it is reluctant simply to cut off welfare benefits to people and leave them without some means of basic support. The surveys identified five underlying beliefs that shape the public's policy preferences: (1) welfare causes more harm than good because it discourages work and causes families to break up; (2) welfare should be a temporary transition to work, not a long-term subsidy for low-income families; (3) the country spends too much on welfare programs; (4) lack of economic opportunity as well as personal responsibility is the reason people need welfare; and (5) both government and people themselves have a shared responsibility for ensuring that people have a minimum standard of living. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of the welfare reform debate will have a substantial impact on the 21% of the nation's children who now live in poverty. The jury is still out on what the public will support in the welfare reform debate. The Medicaid program is caught in the middle of the welfare reform debate, and its ultimate fate may rely on state rather than federal decision making.

Adult↗