Commonwealth Fund release first-ever Scorecard on Local Health System Performance

The first-ever Scorecard on Local Health System Performance provides U.S. communities with comparative data to assess the performance of their health care systems, establish priorities for improvement, and set achievement targets. It tracks 43 indicators spanning four dimensions of health system performance: access, prevention and treatment, costs and potentially avoidable hospital use, and health outcomes. The findings show clearly that where you live matters for health care access and care experiences. Comparing all 306 local health care areas, known as hospital referral regions, in the United States, the report finds that access, quality, costs, and health outcomes all vary significantly from one local community to another, often with a two- to threefold variation in key indicators between leading and lagging communities. The top-performing areas are concentrated in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Yet, ample opportunities exist for health system improvement in all communities.  Read more.