Federal Programs to Expire: The Case of Health Planning

Abstract

Herbert Kaufman's thesis that organizations expire when their resources diminish and that they are unable to adapt is applied to the federal health planning program. Kaufman's explanations of the circumstances under which agencies are subject to reductions and even demise are found to have applied to the 1986 termination of health planning. Changes in the issue network and policy relevant environment precipitated the death of this program.