Healthcare Quality Determined More by State Than Socioeconomic Status, Study Finds

While economic status has a hand in dictating access to healthcare, state of residence is much more important than income level in determining quality of available care, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund.

The Scorecard on State Health System Performance for Low-Income Populations, 2013 analyzed 30 measures on access, prevention and quality, avoidable hospital use and health outcomes and found there are variable standards in each measure among states.

The variability is such that low-income populations in states with higher standards of care have access to care as quality as that which is accessed by high-income populations in states with lower standards of care.

The report concluded that if all states provided the quality of care at the level of the highest states, low-income populations would have much better health outlooks.

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