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Mark Schlesinger, PhD

Professor of Public Health (Health Policy)

Contact Information

Mark Schlesinger, PhD

Office Location

Mailing Address

  • Health Policy & Management

    PO Box 208034, 60 College Street

    New Haven, CT, 06520-8034

    United States

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Research Summary

Professor Schlesinger's research focuses on three topics. The first explores ways in which the general public and policymakers make sense of and communicate about complex social issues, as well as how they evaluate policies to address those issues. This research examines the determinants of public opinion, the role of political framing, and the importance of norms of fairness in policy assessment. The second set of research examines the impact of ownership on the delivery of health and social services. These studies explore the comparative performance of nonprofit, for-profit and public health care agencies, the nature of public expectations involving ownership, and the extent to which ownership is related to trust in and trustworthiness of medical care. The third set of research examines the attitudinal and behavioral underpinnings of medical consumerism, comparing the effectiveness of exit versus voice to improve medical markets, and identifying the barriers to effective consumer empowerment.

Research Interests

Consumer Behavior; Health Policy; Ownership; Patient Advocacy; Policy Making; Public Opinion

Selected Publications

  • A loss of faith: the sources of reduced political legitimacy for the American medical profession.Schlesinger M. A loss of faith: the sources of reduced political legitimacy for the American medical profession. The Milbank Quarterly 2002, 80:185-235.
  • On values and democratic policy making: the deceptively fragile consensus around market-oriented medical care.Schlesinger M. On values and democratic policy making: the deceptively fragile consensus around market-oriented medical care. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy And Law 2002, 27:889-925.
  • Making the best of hard times: how the nation's economic circumstances shaped the public's embrace of health care reform.Schlesinger M. Making the best of hard times: how the nation's economic circumstances shaped the public's embrace of health care reform. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy And Law 2011, 36:989-1020.
  • Schlesinger Insecure alliances: Risk, inequality, and support for the welfare stateRehm, P., J.S. Hacker and M. Schlesinger Insecure alliances: Risk, inequality, and support for the welfare state American Political Science Review 2012;106(2): 386 – 406
  • Not afraid to blame: the neglected role of blame attribution in medical consumerism and some implications for health policy.Rosenthal M, Schlesinger M. Not afraid to blame: the neglected role of blame attribution in medical consumerism and some implications for health policy. The Milbank Quarterly 2002, 80:41-95.
  • Responsive consumerism: empowerment in markets for health plans.Elbel B, Schlesinger M. Responsive consumerism: empowerment in markets for health plans. The Milbank Quarterly 2009, 87:633-82.
  • Complexity, public reporting, and choice of doctors: a look inside the blackest box of consumer behavior.Schlesinger M, Kanouse DE, Martino SC, Shaller D, Rybowski L. Complexity, public reporting, and choice of doctors: a look inside the blackest box of consumer behavior. Medical Care Research And Review : MCRR 2014, 71:38S-64S.
  • Taking Patients' Narratives about Clinicians from Anecdote to Science.Schlesinger M, Grob R, Shaller D, Martino SC, Parker AM, Finucane ML, Cerully JL, Rybowski L. Taking Patients' Narratives about Clinicians from Anecdote to Science. The New England Journal Of Medicine 2015, 373:675-9.
  • Breaking Narrative Ground: Innovative Methods for Rigorously Eliciting and Assessing Patient Narratives.Grob R, Schlesinger M, Parker AM, Shaller D, Barre LR, Martino SC, Finucane ML, Rybowski L, Cerully JL. Breaking Narrative Ground: Innovative Methods for Rigorously Eliciting and Assessing Patient Narratives. Health Services Research 2016, 51 Suppl 2:1248-72.
  • Context-based strategies for engaging consumers with public reports about health care providers.Shaller D, Kanouse DE, Schlesinger M. Context-based strategies for engaging consumers with public reports about health care providers. Medical Care Research And Review : MCRR 2014, 71:17S-37S.
  • Choice cuts: parsing policymakers' pursuit of patient empowerment from an individual perspective.Schlesinger M. Choice cuts: parsing policymakers' pursuit of patient empowerment from an individual perspective. Health Economics, Policy, And Law 2010, 5:365-87.
  • Crowding out: multiple manifestations, muddled meanings.Schlesinger M. Crowding out: multiple manifestations, muddled meanings. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy And Law 2012, 37:851-64.
  • The economic security index: A new measure for research and policy analysis.Hacker, J, G, Huber, A, Nichols, P Rehm, M Schlesinger, R Valletta and S. Craig. The economic security index: A new measure for research and policy analysis. The Review of Income and Wealth 2014; 60: (Suppl): S5-S32.
  • Public expectations of nonprofit and for-profit ownership in American medicine: clarifications and implications.Schlesinger M, Mitchell S, Gray BH. Public expectations of nonprofit and for-profit ownership in American medicine: clarifications and implications. Health Affairs (Project Hope) 2004, 23:181-91.
  • Nonprofit Organizations and Health Care: The Paradox of Persistent Attention.Schlesinger, M., and Gray, B. Nonprofit Organizations and Health Care: The Paradox of Persistent Attention. In: The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, 2nd Edition, W.W. Powell and R. Steinberg (Eds.). New Haven: Yale University Press, in press, 2005
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