Comprehensive ranking of state health systems looks at quality, access, equity, other factors

Wonder how your state ranks in key measurements of health, such as quality, access and equity, and what sort of overall rating those factors produce? The first comprehensive study of health-system performance in all 50 states was issued this week, and is available in various forms, including this interactive map, which has links to all the details.

In addition to the three criteria above, the study also evaluated states on the basis of potentially avoidable hospitalizations and costs, and the health status of each state's population. The worst region was the Southeast, and states with large rural populations appeared more likely to rank low. The worst states, from 50th to 40th, were Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Nevada, Louisiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

The study was done for The Commonwealth Fund Commission on
a High Performance Health System.