VOLUME: 12 linear feet
ACCESS: This collection is open to the public upon request.
COPYRIGHT: Please consult the archivist for information about duplication or publishing of any materials from this collection.
Biographical Note
Malvin Schechter was born March 7, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. Schechter earned his BA in history and MS in journalism at Columbia University (1952, 1953). He served two years in the U.S. Army as a journalist in West Germany, and after Schechter's service, he married Irma Cohen in 1957. Irma (Cohen) Schechter was born May 25, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her BA in sociology at Brooklyn College and her MPA in urban affairs at American University (1954, 1974). She worked as an editor and publisher of Care Reports, Inc. from 1976 - 1983, and as Director of the Government Affairs Division of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York until 1986.
In 1959, Malvin Schechter received a fellowship from the Ford Foundation to cover geriatrics and population aging. In 1960, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work as editor of Modern Medicine Publications. Schechter covered Medicare legislation as well as health policy developments until 1982. He also reported on hospitals' compliance with integration rules after the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In 1976, Malvin Schechter became a top deputy of Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. In 1980, he moved to New York when Butler established a geriatrics department at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Schechter taught medical economics and was the school's Associate Director for the International Longevity Center until his retirement in 1997. Malvin Schechter passed away of pneumonia on May 3, 2011.
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains newsletters that Malvin and Irma Schechter edited, wrote, and published, including: Aging Research & Training News (1973 - 1983, 1986), Aging Services News (1977 - 1986), Health Cost Containment (1977 - 1979), and Schechter Report/LABS (1975 - 1979). Also of note are records concerning Malvin Schechter's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cases against the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) (1969 - 1975). In 1972, after HEW declined to release the nursing home inspection records he requested, Schechter and Ralph Nader's litigation group successfully sued HEW to obtain them, which resulted in greater transparency of nursing home records. Malvin Schechter"s writings (1956 - 2008) consist of his articles for the New York Times, the Associated Press, Nursing Homes Magazine, Modern Medicine, Hospital Practice, Lab World, Geriatrics, unpublished articles he wrote on spec, and drafts from his newsletters mentioned above. There are also anecdotal stories he wrote about growing up in Brooklyn.
Provenance
Irma Schechter donated this collection to American University in 2012.
Processing Note
The collection contains two series: Publications and Subject Files. Due to the original order, most of this collection is arranged by subject in the subject files series. Both series are in alphabetical order by subject. For all acronyms, the order will be under the full name (Example: American Association of Retired Persons instead of AARP).Β There is an Audiovisual (AV) portion in this collection. All of the AV is in the subject file series and is stored in box 12. The material is listed in the box and folder list with a marker to indicate its location.
Series Descriptions & Box and Folder Listing
Series 1: Publications (1954 - 2009)
2 linear feet
This series contains Malvin and Irma Schechter's publications in alphabetical order by title. Malvin and Irma Schechter edited and published several of the geriatric newsletters featured in this series: Aging Research & Training News (1973 - 1983, 1986), Aging Services News (1977 - 1986), Health Cost Containment (1977 - 1979), and Schechter Report/LABS (1975 - 1979).
Box 1
50+: The Magazine for Successful Retirement, 1961
Aging, Research, & Training News (3 folders), 1978 - 1983, 1986
Aging Services News [originally Supportive Services] (6 folders), 1977- 1986
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) - booklet, undated
ARRP - Public Policy Institute - report, 2005
American Journal of Public Health, 1954, 1967 - 1969
American Patient, 1969 - 1970
A Blueprint for Pension Reform: Citizens' Goals, undated
Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 1983
Century Foundation Report, 1999 Chart Books (2 folders), 1996 - 2000
Chronic and Disabling Conditions, 1994, 2000
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - study, 1981
Contemporary Gerontology, Vol. 6 No. 2, 1999
Demography is Not Destiny - report, 1999
Developing a Better Long-Term Care Policy - report, 2005
Geriatrics Magazine (4 folders), 1962 - 1967
The Gerontologist, 1993 - 2008
Box 2
The Gerontologist (2 folders), 1993 - 2008
Health & the Future - briefs, undated
Health and Vitality: Research on Aging, 1991
Health Cost Containment, 1977 - 1979
Hospital Practice (2 folders), 1968 - 1971 Human Aging II: An Eleven-Year Follow-up Study, 1971
International Longevity Center (6 folders), 1999 - 2007
Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 1978 - 1979
Journal of Gerontology, 2001
Lab World, 1970 - 1973
Medicine & Health, 1986
The Michael M. Davis Lectures - booklets, 1970, 1971
Modern Medicine, 1961
National Academy on Aging - executive seminar, 1993
The New Republic - anniversary issue, 1963 - 1964
Nursing Homes, 1965 - 1966
President's Commissions on pension Policy, 1981
Productive Aging (4 folders), 1986 - 1994
Box 3
Progressive Practice in System Integration - study, 1999
Public Citizen Health Research Group - health letters, 2008 - 2009
Public Policy in an Older America, 2006
Reporter's Handbook, undated
Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Program, 1997 - 1998
The Schechter Report/LABS (2 folders), 1975 - 1979
Social Security Administration - oral history interview, undated
Working with Older People, 1970 - 1971
Series 2: Subject Files (1932 - 2010)
10 linear feet
The Subject Files are in alphabetical order. Most subjects are geriatric-related, such as aging, baby boomers, caregiving, long-term care, Medicaid, Medicare, and social security. The files consist of articles, briefs, letters, writings, and conference publications. Included in this series are records from Schechter's FOIA cases concerning access to nursing home records maintained by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1969 - 1975). These contain FOIA requests and responses, briefs, exhibits, dockets, correspondence, articles leading up to and resulting from the lawsuits, and Schechter's description and timeline. Malvin Schechter's writings (1960 - 2002) contain his articles from the New York Times, the Associated Press, Nursing Homes Magazine, Modern Medicine, Hospital Practice, Lab World, Geriatrics, unpublished articles he wrote on spec, and drafts from his newsletters: Aging Services News, Aging Research & Training News, Health Cost Containment: A Newsletter for Business, and Schechter Report/LABS. There are also anecdotal stories he wrote about growing up in Brooklyn at his family's photography business. See folder "Schechter, Malvin: bibliography and Curriculum Vitae," for a list of his published writings.
Box 3 (continued)
Age Boom, 2002
Age Discrimination (2 folders), 1991 - 2008
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2003 - 2005
Aging
- (4 folders), 1963, 1995 - 2007
- Course: Meaning in Later Life, 1994, 1998 - 1999, undated
- Economics (2 folders), 1994 - 2004
- Health, Education, and Welfare - remarks, 1978
- Women, 2003 - 2004
Aging Policy
- 1972 - 1999
- Binstock, Robert, 1992, undated
Box 4
Aging Population: Eisner, Robert, undated
Aging Research
- 1991 - 1996, undated
- Philosophy, 1988, 1991 - 2000
- Population, 1992 - 1999
- Psychological Studies, 1990 - 1999
- Social, 1998 - 1999
Allen, Garrott - correspondence, 1978
Alzheimer's, 1996 - 2008
Arenberg - geriatrics lecture - cassette, undated See: Box 12
Articles, 1975, 2000 - 2008, undated
Ball, Robert - analysis, undated
Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging (BLSA)
- 2007 - 2008, undated
- 40th anniversary - VHS, undated See: Box 12
- Art Norris, Interview with Malvin Schechter - cassette, 1979 See: Box 12
Bereavement, 1988, 1990
Bethesda Naval Hospital, 1970 - 1974
Beyond Medicare, 1992 - 1994, undated
Birren, James E. - correspondence, 1966, 1970, undated
Blood Segregation: Emergency Medicare Louisiana Blood Law, 1967, 1969, undated
Book Reviews, 1988, undated
Boomers, 1990 - 2007
Bush, George W. - plans, 2003 - 2004, undated
Butler, Robert, 1978 - 2000, undated
Canadian Address Notes: Lalonde, Marc, 1975
Caregiving: Home Care (3 folders), 1989 - 2008
The Caregiving Project (2 folders), 2007
Caring for the Oldest Old - article, 2008
Chronic Care, 1995 - 1996, 2008
Civil Rights
- Act Compliance, 1966 - 1975
- Emergency Medicare Admissions - correspondence, 1960 - 2004
- Lee County Cooperative Clinic - includes interviews, 1963 - 1972
Clippings (3 folders), 1952 - 2008
Controversies in Medicine, undated
Correspondence - incoming and outgoing, 1965 - 1969, 1984 - 1994
Box 5
Democratic Strategy, 1995 - 2009, undated
Democratizing Health Systems: Hollman, John L. - presentation, 1975
Demographic Statistics, 1994 - 2005, undated
Demographics (2 folders), 1989 - 2006
Diaper Deaths, 1966 - 1973Drugs, 1999 - 2008, undated
Economy, 1997 - 2008
Elder Care - hearing, 1998
Employment, 1963, 1966, undated
Ensuring Health and Income Security for an Aging Workforce (2 folders), 2000
Entitlement: Muller, Charlotte 1992 - 1994
Epidemiology and Social Classes, 1996, 2001
Equality and Rights in Medical Care: Mechanic, undated
Fogarty, John, 2nd District, Rhode Island - includes interview, 1961 - 1964
Food and Drug Administration - history, 1956 - 1963
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
- Consumers' Checkbook, 2007
- Director of International Center for Social Gerontology - cassette, 1977 See: Box 12
- Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) - correspondence, 1972 - 1975
- Nursing Homes - includes court papers (9 folders), 1969 - 1979, 2006, undated
- Primetime: Nursing homes - Malvin Schechter as guest, Side B: Interview with Wilma, Serchuk, Max - cassette, 1972 See: Box 12
- Summary Memo, 1973
Box 6
FOIA (continued)
- Writings: Nursing Homes (2 folders), 1966 - 1974, undated
- and Sex, 1995, 1997, undated
- Clinical, 1993 - 2007
- Healthy Aging, 1990 - 2004
- Medicine, 1988, 1992 - 2003
- Syllabus: Medicare/Medicaid, Socioeconomics, 1997, 1999, undated
- Consumer, 1973, 1983 - 1996, undated
- Costs (2 folders), 1977 - 2008
- Diseases, 1997 - 2002
- Drug Profits, 1992 - 2001
- Exercise, 1999, 2004, undated
- Geriatrics, 1992 - 2010
- Home Health, 1986, 1996, 2000
- Hospice and Hospitals, 2005 - 2008
- Insurance, 1991 - 2008
- Life Expectancy, 2003, 2006 - 2008
- Medical, 2006, 2008, undated
- Mental, 1984, 2006, undated
- Quality, 2000 - 2004
- Reform, 1997, 2002 - 2003
- Smoking, undated
- Systems, 1992 - 2002, undated
- Trends, 1996, 2002, undated
Health Education and Welfare (HEW): Secretary Responses: Ribicoff, Abraham, 1959 - 1961
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
- (2 folders), 1987 - 2002
- Medicare, 1996 - 2000
- Canada, 1987, 2000, undated
- Elderly (2 folders), 1980 - 2007, undated
- 1990 - 2009, undated
- Universal, 2004, 2007, undated
Home Care Association of New York, Inc., 1986 - 1987
House PM RNB at SD, session - cassette, 1987 See: Box 12
Housing and Race, 2000 - 2002, undated
Human Lifespan: Hayflick, Leonard, 1991, 1993
Income Distribution, 1976, 1995 - 1999, undated
International Longevity Center - includes notes, 1990, 2000, undated
International Social Security Association, 1983, 1996
Intramural Research Program - handout and outline, 2003, undated
Box 7
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH), 1975 - 1976
Journalism Training, 1975
Kuttner, Robert - articles, 1994 - 2002, undated
Lincoln, Abraham - reading list, undated
Long Term Care
- (4 folders), 1964, 1988 - 2007
- 1980 Briefs, 1980, 1997, undated
- Chronic Care, 1990 - 1991, undated
- Consumer Directed, 1999, undated
- Disability over 65, 2005, 2007, undated
- Fact sheets, 1989, undated
- Housing, 1991 - 2007
- Professional, 1979, 1987, 1992
- Public Policy, 1982 - 2002
- Publications (3 folders), 1987 - 1999
- Somers, Anne, 1993, 1995
- Weiner, Joshua, 1991 - 1992, 1999, 2000
- (5 folders), 1982 - 2007, undated
Box 8
Long-Term Care: Insurance (continued)
- 1982 - 2007
- Japan, 1997, 2003, undated
- Medicaid, 1989
- Proposals (2 folders), 1988 - 2007
- Publications, 1984 - 2002
- Testimony, 1991
Longevity - centenarian, 1998
Lou Gehrig's disease: Church, Edwin, 1981, 1990 - 1999
Malpractice, 2003, undated
Managed Care, 1995 - 1997
Meaning of Life, 1966, 2000, undated
Medicaid
- (2 folders), 1982, 1989 - 1999, 2003 - 2007
- Estate Recovery, 2006
- Policy, 1993, 1998
- (4 folders), 1965 - 1966, 1990 - 2008
- AARP fact sheets, 1997 - 1999
- at 10, 20, and 30, 1976, 1985, 1997 - 1998
- Ball, Robert - proposal, 1991
- Benefits, 1997, 2002, 2004
- Clinton, Bill - Reform, 1992 - 1993
- Davis, Karen, 1993 - 1999
- Drugs, 1999 - 2008
- Fraud Recoveries, undated
- Future of Reforms, 1986, 1995, 1999
- General, 1997 - 2000
- Hearings - notes, undated
- Historical Fee Inflation, 1966, 1968
- Interviews, 1968
- Medigap and Catastrophic, 1990 - 2001
Box 9
Medicare (continued)
- Payment Issues and Practice, 1995 - 2003
- Policy and Reform, 1965 - 2003, undated
- Program (2 folders), 1996 - 2004
- Proposal Issues (2 folders), 1987 - 2000, undated
- Publications (3 folders), 1996 - 1998
- Reform, 1986 - 2002
- Report, 1997
- Restructuring, 1982 - 1998, undated
- Taxes, 1992 - 1997
- Conference (5 folders), 1998 - 2003
- Press kit, 2001
The National Consumers League, 1973 - 1974
National Health Expenditures, 2004 - 2006, undated
National Health Insurance
- (2 folders), 1960, 1963, 1988 - 2009, undated
- Ball Proposal (2 folders), 1971, 1987 - 1998
- Clinton, Hillary, undated
- Early Proposals, 1972 - 1977, 1993, undated
Box 10
National Health Insurance (continued)
- Glaser, William, 1976 - 1978
- Medicare History, 1974, 1984 - 2001
- Principles, 1932, 1970, undated
- Systems, 1997 - 1999
National Institute of Aging - aging basis, 1999, 2005
Neugarten, Bernice L. - correspondence, 1994, 1998, undated
Nirenberg, Marshall W. - interviews, 1963, undated
Nursing Homes
- Canada, 1992, 1999, undated
- Conditions and Reform, (2 folders) 1973 - 1975, 1995 - 2007
Pensions, 2001 - 2008
Pepper Commission (2 folders), 1977 - 1990, undated
Photos, undated
Policy: Butler, Robert and Falk, Isidore, 1969, 2008, undated
Politicians - photos, undated Population Aging, 1990 - 1998
Poverty, 2002, 2008, undated
Privacy, 1998
Public Health
- Policy, 1997 - 2003
- Tobacco, 1994 - 2004
Rationing, 1987, 2006
Reporter's Privilege, 2005, undated
Retirement
- (3 folders), 1995 - 2009
- International Longevity Center, 1992 - 2008
Rich and Poor (2 folders), 1969, 1996 - 2004
Schechter, David - correspondence, 2005 - 2006, undated
Schechter, Irma - reports and resumes, 1973 - 1984
Schechter, Malvin
- 1981 - 2006, undated
- Beyond Medicare, 1993 - 1994
- Bibliography and Curriculum Vitae, 1983, 1992 - 1999, undated
- Chapter drafts and notes, 1988 - 1992, undated
- A Child Sees Cancer, 1969
- Ghostwriting, 1968 - 1971
- Lectures, 1992, undated
- Medicare, 1997 - 1998
Box 11
Schechter, Malvin (continued)
- New York Herald Tribune, 1963, undated
- New York Times, 1952
- Policy Institute Proposal, 1983 - 1998, undated
- Writings (9 folders), 1956 - 2008, undated
Schechter Report/LABS - correspondence, 1956, 1964, 1979
Science on Trial, undated
Shannon, James A. - writings, 1957 - 1965
Social Determinants, 1995, 2000
Social Networks and Informal Care, 1989 - 1993
Social Security (4 folders), 1997 - 2008
- Entitlements, 1983, undated
- Global, 1998 - 2003, undated
- Grant Proposal, 1995 - 2004, undated
- Medicare Reform, 1994, 1998
- Privatization, 1996 - 2004
Box 12
Social Security (continued)
- Privatization, 1996 - 2004
- Proposals, 1995, 1998 - 2001
- Retirement, 2001 - 2008
- Rich and Poor, 1997, 2005 - 2008
- Women, 1993 - 2002
Social Welfare Conference Opening Sessions: Somers, Anne, 1993, 1995
Social Welfare: Knowles, John, undatedTaxes and Government, 1996, 2001 - 2007
Values, Ethics & Rationing in Critical Care - task force, undated
Welfare, 2001 - 2003
Work, 1964 - 2006, undated