Ohio ranks in top quartile overall on child health indicators, but there is room for improvement

The Commonwealth Fund released its most recent state report card on health (Source: "U.S. Variations in Child Health System Performance: A State Scorecard," The Commonwealth Fund, May 28, 2008).  This version compares states on measures of child health.  It compares states across 13 indicators divided into five areas.  The areas are: potential to lead long, health lives; access; quality; equity; and costs.

Ohio ranked 6th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia across all 13 measures.  Ohio scored in the top quartile of three of the five general areas: access (5th); quality (8th); and equity (10th).  However, Ohio scored 34th on costs and 31st on potential to lead healthy lives.

Of the 13 specific indicators, Ohio scored best on percent of uninsured children below 200 percent of poverty (4th) and percent of children ages 0-17 whose personal physician or nurse follows up after they get specialty care (5th).  Ohio scored worst on infant mortality (37th) and personal health care spending per capita (37th). 

The scorecard shows opportunities for improvement for all states.  For instance, even though Ohio ranked 6th overall, it scored below the state median average on 5 of the 13 measures, virtually the same on one measure, and better on 7 measures.  Ohio scored below the state median average on the following 5 measures: infant mortality; percent of children ages 1-17 with current emotional, behavioral, or developmental problems who received some mental health care in the past year; hospital admissions for pediatric asthma per 100,000 children ages 0-17; personal health care spending per capita; and average family premium per enrolled employee for employer-based health insurance. 

Two areas of greatest improvement potential appear to be pediatric asthma hospitalization and infant mortality.  Ohio's score for pediatric asthma hospital admissions was more than two times higher than that of the best 5 states and more than three time higher than the best state (177.3 to 81.3 to 54.9 per 100,000 children).  Ohio also experienced a high level of variance on the infant mortality indicator compared to the top 5 states and the best state (7.9 to 4.8 to 4.3 per 1,000 live births).