The cost and quality of health care, as well as access to care and health outcomes, continue to vary widely among states, according to the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System's second state scorecard report. The states that led in the first state scorecard, released in 2007, generally continued to lead, often setting new benchmarks and widening the gap between leading and lagging states. Aiming Higher for Health System Performance: A Profile of Seven States That Perform Well on The Commonwealth Fund's 2009 State Scorecard is a companion to the 2009 State Scorecard that profiles seven health systems: six that rank among the top quartile of states—Vermont, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin—plus Delaware, which was among the most-improved states from 2007 to 2009.
Also, an interactive map makes it easy to view state-specific rankings and results as well as estimates of the lives and dollars that could be saved if a state's performance were brought up to benchmark levels. You can create custom bar charts, tables, and Powerpoint slides comparing states that you choose on performance indicators you select.
An accompanying video features Commonwealth Fund senior vice president Cathy Schoen and Fund president Karen Davis explaining the scorecard findings. Read more »
A new Commonwealth Fund-supported study in Annals of Internal Medicine demonstrates that expanding health coverage might not cost as much as policymakers assume. Mainly due to untreated chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes, individuals who were uninsured before becoming eligible for Medicare at 65 had significantly higher spending than did those with coverage prior to Medicare enrollment. Read more »
Most Americans remain perplexed by the different versions of health reform presented in legislation from the House of Representatives and the Senate. And headlines suggest bipartisan and even Democratic party agreement is elusive. In a new blog post, Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis points out that there is significant consensus on the framework for reform across all the bills moving through Congress. Read more »
This Commonwealth Fund–supported study of the state's health reform initiative finds that employer-based coverage in Massachusetts has increased, as have the scope and quality of coverage as assessed by workers. However, some employees in small firms have seen a significant rise in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. Read more »
The Commonwealth Fund–supported study in Annals of Internal Medicine looks at primary care practices in Massachusetts and finds a strong association between clinicians' frequent use of advanced electronic health records and higher practice performance on quality-of-care measures. Read more »
The September/October issue of Quality Matters looks at innovations in health care delivery. It features a Q&A with one of the authors of The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care, who argues that it is only by modifying the roles of health care providers and simplifying the business models of hospitals and medical clinics that we will increase access for patients, improve our understanding of complex diseases, and achieve the cost savings necessary for U.S. companies to compete in global markets. A case study explores how worksite health clinics have helped lower costs and improve care for employees of a Wisconsin printing company. Read more »
In invited testimony September 30 before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, Commonwealth Fund senior vice president Cathy Schoen described some of the innovative policies enacted by other nations to improve performance, enhance value, and harness markets and competition in the public interest. Schoen says the U.S. can learn a lot from their experiences. Schoen discussed how the U.S. can learn from health care abroad in a "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" appearance on October 7. Read the transcript or watch the video at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec09/healthcare2_10-07.html. Read more »