CT ranks 3rd in health system performance, but there’s lots of work to do

Connecticut’s health system performance is the third best in the nation, according to the latest Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard. COVID strongly influenced state’s performance; Connecticut ranked tenth among states on seven measures including COVID mortality, health system stress, and vaccination rates.

There is a lot of room for improvement in Connecticut’s health system. Sadly, Connecticut is 31^st among states in avoidable hospital use and costs, 37^th for hospital patient experience ratings, 23^rd in adults with mental illness not receiving treatment, and we are 17^th in the percent of people with medical debt. Our incidence of drug and alcohol deaths are bad (22^nd and 40^th, respectively) and getting worse. It’s not surprising that we have lots of work to do.