On March 1, the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) released the latest edition of its Health Value Dashboard, which ranks states and the District of Columbia on a combination of population health and health care spending metrics. According to the Dashboard, Ohio ranks 46th in the nation in health value.
The Dashboard is unique in its emphasis on “health value,” rather than on population health outcomes alone. No other national rankings factor in the impact of health care spending. The Dashboard also takes a more comprehensive approach in looking at health by evaluating social, economic, and physical environments – which are significant contributors to overall health. The Dashboard provides in depth data on 118 metrics.
The HPIO Dashboard shows that Ohioans live less healthy lives (43rd in population health) and spend more on health care (31st in health care spending) than other states.
“Ohio performs well on access to care, but poorly on population health,” HPIO President Amy Rohling McGee said. “Access to care is critical for people who are sick, experience an injury, or have a chronic health condition. However, access alone is not sufficient to improving overall health. Ohio performs poorly on other important factors that impact health value.”
The 2017 Dashboard is the second edition of the rankings. HPIO released its first Dashboard in late 2014. Ohio ranked 47th in health value in the inaugural edition.
Like most states, Ohio’s performance is moving in the right direction, with more metrics that improved than worsened in recent years. However, there are a number of metrics in which Ohio ranked in the bottom quartile.
“The good news is that we know what works to improve health behaviors and support healthy communities,” Ms. McGee said. “We need to build on the improvements that have been made in Ohio and continue to implement evidence-informed solutions to address Ohio’s greatest health challenges.”
The data collection and analysis for the dashboard was conducted in partnership with the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. The metrics were selected by a wide array of experts who participated in an advisory group and workgroups convened by HPIO.