CT ranks 5th among states in health system performance this year, up from 9th last year

Connecticut’s health system performs better than all but four other states, according to the latest Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard. We are first in Healthy lives, up from sixth last year. Surprisingly, we also do very well on Access & Affordability (sixth) – it must be the access part. But we have a lot of work to do. We are 40^th among states in the rate of drug poisoning deaths; from 2013 to 2017 our rate grew by 93%. We are 28^th and 36^th among states in avoidable ER visits for adults 18 to 64 years and over age 65, respectively. We are 38^th in hospital patient experience of care, 44^th for home health patients without improved mobility, 30^th in childhood asthma hospital admissions, 34^th in Medicare readmissions, and 39^th in employer-sponsored insurance spending per person (not a surprise). Disparities in care based on income in Connecticut is embarrassing and getting worse. We rank 22^nd among states this year, down from 14^th last year. Also not surprising in Connecticut, we rank 29^th in high out-of-pocket costs relative to income, and 38^th in income disparities in obesity rates. We should look to our neighbors for solutions – Massachusetts ranked second overall and Rhode Island improved more than any other state.