The report, titled the “2018 Scorecard on State Health System Performance,” measured all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on 43 performance indicators grouped into four dimensions: access and affordability, prevention and treatment, potentially avoidable hospital use and cost, and healthy lives.
Here are four trends in state health system performance, according to the Commonwealth Fund.
1. The combined rate of deaths by suicide, alcohol and drug use increased 50 percent from 2005 to 2016, according to the report. Rates rose in all states and doubled or more in Delaware, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and West Virginia.
2. Rates of premature death from preventable or treatable causes increased for two-thirds of states during 2014-15. The uptick was greater than 5 percent for Colorado, Maine, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Vermont and Wyoming.
3. Analysts found 1 in 4 adults are considered obese in states with the lowest rates of obesity. In Mississippi and West Virginia, which are ranked among the bottom in terms of healthcare by the Commonwealth Fund, the proportion of obese adults reached 39 percent in 2016.
4. The adult uninsured rate declined by at least 5 percentage points in 47 states during the first three years of the ACA’s major insurance coverage expansions. A substantially smaller number of adults also reported skipping care because of costs.
To access the report, click here.
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