Television Hospital Dramas Often Draw on Public Policy Debates for Story Lines, Study Says
Television hospital dramas regularly feature national health policy issues such as patients' rights, managed care and racial health disparities, but they do not feature some of "the most hotly debated" health topics, such as prescription drug coverage for seniors or health coverage for the uninsured, according to a study of the 2000-2001 television season prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation. About one scene per episode of a medical drama deals with a health policy issue, the study, titled "As Seen on TV: Health Policy Issues in TV's Medical Dramas," says (KFF release, 7/16). The study examined 74 first-run episodes of four hospital-based dramas: "City of Angels" (CBS, cancelled), "ER" (NBC), "Gideon's Crossing" (ABC, cancelled) and "Strong Medicine" (Lifetime) (Rovner, Reuters Health, 7/16). On "ER," for example, story lines have dealt with the legality of distributing clean needles to drug users and an HMO's denial of pain management care to a woman with terminal breast cancer. An episode of "Strong Medicine" featured a critically ill low-income patient without access to prescription drugs in an inner city neighborhood.
Findings
Among the study's findings:
- Of scenes on medical dramas dealing with public health policy issues, 48% presented "both sides of the issue in an even-handed manner," while 26% of scenes favored current policy and 26% of scenes were against current policy (KFF release, 7/16).
- Most of the public health policy issues raised during medical dramas were not explored in "great depth," and only one in five issues continued over several scenes.
- Of scenes dealing with health policy, 78% concerned ethical issues, while 13% concerned issues such as access to or cost of care and 9% concerned both types of issues.
- About half of scenes dealing with health policy concerned issues being considered by Congress or federal agencies, while 32% concerned malpractice cases and 9% concerned hospital policies (Greene, CNN.com, 7/16).
- Shows frequently featured groups and individuals involved in national health policy debates, including hospital administrators, lawyers, government agencies, insurance companies and HMOs. HMOs, insurance companies and lawyers were portrayed more negatively than positively as compared with other groups. Specifically, all six references to HMOs throughout the television season were negative.
Resources
The study, "John Q" survey and other related materials are available online.
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HealthCast of the forum -- including comments from American Association of Health Plans President Karen Ignagni; "John Q" screenwriter James Kearns; Mark Morocco, medical supervisor for the NBC dramas "ER" and "Third Watch";
Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack; and Turow -- is available online.
In addition, an NPR "Morning Edition" report on the study and AAHP's hiring of talent agency William Morris is available
online in RealPlayer Audio.