Batter up?

The folks over the Commonwealth Fund have published a report on states relative to their health system performance ("access, quality, avoidable hospital use and costs, equity, and healthy lives"). From the Executive Summary of The State Scorecard:

The rich geographical diversity of the United States is part of its appeal. The diverse performance of the health care system across the U.S., however, is not. People in the United States, regardless of where they live, deserve the best of American health care. The State Scorecard is intended to assist states in identifying opportunities to better meet their residents current and future health needs and enable them to live long and healthy lives. With rising health costs squeezing the budgets of businesses, families, and public programs, there is a pressing need to improve performance and reap greater value from the health system.

The State Scorecard offers a framework through which policymakers and other stakeholders can gauge efforts to ensure affordable access to high quality, efficient, and equitable care. With a goal of focusing on opportunities to improve, the analysis assesses performance relative to what is achievable, based on benchmarks drawn from the range of state health system performance.

Click here to access the report.