Thomas R. Oliver, Ph.D., M.H.A.

Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences
Associate Director for Health Policy, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute

Email: troliver@wisc.edu

Biography:

Thomas R. Oliver is Professor of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He also serves as associate director for health policy at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and is a faculty affiliate with the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs. Professor Oliver attended Stanford University and received his bachelor’s degree there in Human Biology. He received a master’s degree in health administration from Duke University and received master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Pew Health Policy Program at the University of California, San Francisco. Professor Oliver's research examines critical issues in health policy, politics, and system reform. His current work includes studies of Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus program and other state health insurance reforms; the use of county health rankings to stimulate and guide population health improvement; the prospects for national health reform; strategies used by foundations to influence health policy; and patterns of new governance in the renewed fight against cancer in the U.S. and European Union.

Affiliations/Associations:

• American Political Science Association
• Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
• AcademyHealth

Select Publications:

Getzin, Anne, Kjersti Knox, Richard Rieselbach, Donna Friedsam, Alison Bergum, Lindsay Read, Chad Kniss, and Thomas Oliver. 2009. “Physician Opinions on Health Care Reform.” Wisconsin Medical Journal 108(6): 302-9.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Philip R. Lee. 2009. “The Medicare Modernization Act: Evolution or Revolution in Policy Development?” In Leah Rogne, Carroll L. Estes, Brian R. Grossman, Brooke A. Hollister, and Erica Solway. Social Insurance and Social Justice: Social Security, Medicare, and the Campaign Against Entitlements. New York: Springer Publishers, pp. 63-93.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Jason Gerson. 2009. “The Role of Foundations in Shaping Health Policy: Lessons from Efforts to Expand and Preserve Health Insurance Coverage.” In James Ferris, ed. Foundations and Public Policy: Leveraging Philanthropic Dollars, Knowledge, and Networks for Greater Impact. New York: The Foundation Center, pp. 119-70.

Rutkow, Lainie, Brad Maggy, Joanna Zablotsky, and Thomas R. Oliver. 2007. “Balancing Consumer and Industry Interests in Public Health: The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and Its Influence During the Last Two Decades.” Penn State Law Review 111: 681-738.

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.

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-October): 701-33.

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

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., 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. 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.

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. 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.

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

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.

Courses Taught:

• PHS 785 Health Systems, Management, and Policy (course director)
• PHS 810-915 International Health Systems and Policy
• PHS 717 Population Medicine and Epidemiology (co-instructor)

Research Weblinks:

http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/uwphi/healthPolicy/ebhpp.htm
http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/uwphi/healthPolicy/badgerCarePlus.htm
http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/uwphi/pha/match.htm

Contact Details:

Address: 610 Walnut Street, Room 760C WARF
Madison, WI 53726-2397
Phone: 608-262-6731
Fax: 608-262-6404
Email: troliver@wisc.edu