Professor Oliver's research draws upon theories of political behavior and policy making to examine critical issues in health care politics and system reform. It has two general goals. The first goal is to identify and assess the forces that bring about change in public policy and complex systems of health and social services. The second goal is to understand the substantive design of formal policies and, in particular, how issues of technical, economic, and political feasibility combine to shape initial proposals and final decisions.

Professor Oliver’s written work covers a number of areas in health policy, among them hospital financing and planning, technology assessment, the provision of dental services through HMOs, congressional policy making on health issues, and models of comprehensive health care reform in states and communities. His most recent work includes studies of state health insurance reforms, the evolution of Medicare policy, the role of foundations in shaping health policy and, more generally, the roles and strategies of leaders in health policy innovation.

Health Policy and Management, health politics and policy, public policy making, health system reform, policy innovation, leadership, health care competition, managed care, Medicare, Medicaid, state health policy

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, 1993

Oliver, Thomas R. and Rachel Friedman Singer. 2006. “Health Services Research as a Source of Legislative Analysis and Input: The California Health Benefits Review Program.” Health Services Research 41 (June): 1124-58.

Lee, Philip R., Thomas R. Oliver, A.E. Benjamin, and Dorothy Lee. 2006. “Politics, Health Policy, and the American Character.” Stanford Law & Policy Review 17 (1) (April).

Oliver, Thomas R. 2006. “The Politics of Public Health Policy.” Annual Review of Public Health 27: 195-233.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2004. "Policy Entrepreneurship in the Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of Managed Care and Managed Competition." Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 29 (August 2004): 701-33.

Oliver, Thomas R., Philip R. Lee, and Helene L. Lipton. 2004. "A History of Medicare and Prescription Drug Coverage." Milbank Quarterly 82 (June): 283-354.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2004. "Holding Back the Tide: Policies to Preserve and Reconstruct Health Insurance Coverage in Maryland." Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 29 (April): 203-36.

Oliver, Thomas. 2004. State Employer Health Insurance Mandates: A Brief History. Oakland, CA: California HealthCare Foundation, March.

Dubay, Lisa, Christina Moylan, and Thomas R. Oliver. 2004. "Advancing Toward Universal Coverage: Are States Able to Take the Lead?" Journal of Health Care Law and Policy 7(1): 1-41.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Jason Gerson. 2003. The Role of Foundations in Shaping Health Policy: Lessons from Efforts to Expand and Protect Health Insurance Coverage. Los Angeles, CA: Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy, University of Southern California.

Oliver, Thomas R., Atul Grover, and Philip R. Lee. 2001. Variations in Medicare Payments for Graduate Medical Education in California and Other States. Oakland, CA: California HealthCare Foundation, June.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2001. "State Health Politics and Policy: Rhetoric, Reality, and the Challenges Ahead." In Robert B. Hackey and David A. Rochefort, eds. The New Politics of State Health Policy. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, pp. 273-91.

Shi, Leiyu, Thomas R. Oliver, and Virginia Huang. 2000. "The State Children's Health Insurance Program: Expanding the Framework for Evaluating State Goals and Performance." Milbank Quarterly 78 (3): 403-46.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2000. "Dynamics without Change: The New Generation." Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 25 (February): 225-32.

Starfield, Barbara and Thomas R. Oliver. 1999. "Primary Care in the United States and its Precarious Future." Health and Social Care in the Community 7 (5): 315-23.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1999. "The Dilemmas of Incrementalism: Logical and Political Constraints in the Design of Health Insurance Reforms." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 18 (Fall): 652-83. Reprinted in Beaufort Longest, ed. 2001. Contemporary Health Policy. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Karen Anderson Oliver. 1998. "Managed Care or Managed Politics?: Medicaid Reforms in Maryland." In Mark R. Daniels, ed. Medicaid Reform and the American States: Case Studies on the Politics of Managed Care. Westport, CT: Auburn House, pp. 135-68.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1998. "The Collision of Economics and Politics in Medicaid Managed Care: Reflections on the Course of Reform in Maryland." Milbank Quarterly 76 (1): 59-101.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Pamela Paul-Shaheen. 1997. "Translating Ideas into Actions: Entrepreneurial Leadership in State Health Care Reforms." Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 22 (June): 721-88.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Robert M. Fiedler. 1997. "State Government and Health Insurance Market Reform." In Howard M. Leichter, ed. Health Policy Reform in America: Innovations from the States, 2d ed. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, pp. 47-100.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1996. "Conceptualizing the Challenges of Public Entrepreneurship." In Chris E. Stout, ed. The Integration of Psychological Principles in Policy Development. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 5-31.

Health Care Study Group. 1994. "Understanding the Choices in Health Care Reform." Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 19 (Fall): 499-541. (contributing author)

Oliver, Thomas R. and Emery B. Dowell. 1994. "Interest Groups and Health Reform: Lessons from California." Health Affairs 13 (Spring II): 123-41.

Dowell, Emery B. and Thomas R. Oliver. 1994. "Small-Employer Health Alliance in California." Health Affairs 13 (Spring I): 350-51.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1993. "Analysis, Advice, and Congressional Leadership: The Physician Payment Review Commission and the Politics of Medicare." Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 18 (Spring): 113-74.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1991. "Ideas, Entrepreneurship, and the Politics of Health Care Reform." Stanford Law & Policy Review 3 (Fall): 160-80.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1991. "Health Care Market Reform in Congress: The Uncertain Path from Proposal to Policy." Political Science Quarterly 106 (Fall): 453-77. Reprinted in Demetrios Caraley, ed. 1994. Critical Issues for Clinton's Domestic Agenda. New York: Academy of Political Science, pp. 71-95.

Oliver, Richard C., Mark S. Simmons, Thomas R. Oliver, and John E. Kralewski. 1990. "Dentist Participation in Health Maintenance Organizations." Journal of the American College of Dentists 57 (2): 9-13.

Menken, Matthew, Gordon H. DeFriese, Thomas R. Oliver, and Irwin Litt. 1985.

The Cost-Effectiveness of Digital Subtraction Angiography in the Diagnosis of Cerebrovascular Disease (Health Technology Case Study 34). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, May 1985.

Wilson, Glenn, Cecil G. Sheps, and Thomas R. Oliver. 1982. "Effects of Hospital Revenue Bonds on Hospital Planning and Operations." New England Journal of Medicine 307 (2 December): 1426-30.