Implementing Policy Termination: Health Care Reform in Tennessee

The study of public policy continues to overlook the phenomenon of policy and organization termination. Termination studies typically have been single case studies, each unusual or idiosyncratic in some way, and have not adequately tested or evaluated a theory or framework of termination. This article tests the termination framework advanced by Robert D. Behn and explores the linkages between policy termination and policy implementation by examining Tennessee's efforts to terminate its Medicaid program and implement health care reform. The overall objective of this paper is to identify a theoretical framework that is useful for explaining policy termination and to encourage the testing of other termination theories.