Updated State Snapshots Identify Variations in Health Care Quality

Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Massachusetts were the nation’s five top-performing States in updated assessments of health care quality, according to AHRQ’s 2017 online State Snapshots. The interactive resource evaluates States based on more than 250 performance measures of health care quality and access, and is updated annually. Drawn from the most recently available data from AHRQ’s 2017 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (QDR), the State Snapshots show how each State fared according to access to care, type of care, setting of care, prevalence of diseases and conditions, health status of priority populations, and insurance status. The 2017 QDR shows that nationwide, from 2000 through 2016, almost 70 percent of person-centered care measures were improving, but 80 percent of care affordability measures remained the same. The State Snapshots reveal specific variations across States, including sizable disparities related to race, ethnicity, income and other factors. Learn more from a new AHRQ Views blog post and an infographic.