Idaho health scorecard shows improvements in many public health markers

health-scorecard

A national ranking of state public health systems has Idaho ranked 18th.

The Commonwealth Fund, a private health care research and policy foundation, issued the seventh version of its state health system rankings this week, measuring 47 different aspects of public health and availability in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Idaho Number 18 ranking is up six spots from the previous report, with improved scores in all five of the major categories from the previous report. The Gem State ranked third for avoidable hospital use and cost; eighth for low disparity of health care coverage between low and high-income residents; 17th for healthy living measures such as premature death and smoking; 33rd for preventative care and quality of treatment; and 35th for access and availability of health insurance.

Colorado had the highest overall rank of the five states in the report’s Rocky Mountain region, coming in at ninth place overall, while Utah also ranked ahead of Idaho regionally.

One emphasis of the report was the regional trends in deaths from suicide, alcohol, and drug overdoses. All five states in the Rocky Mountain region were among the highest in the country when it came to suicide rates, while the region also tended to have above-average rates of alcohol deaths, and below-average rates of overdose deaths.

While Idaho’s suicide rate has long been among the highest in the country, the state was also among the worst-ranked when it came to adults without their recommended vaccines and cancer screenings.

The data in the scorecard came from measurements prior to Idaho’s expansion of the state Medicaid program. That expansion won’t begin offering coverage until 2020, and the public data on its impact won’t be available to the Commonwealth Fund for several years. (Post Register)

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