Report: Ohio public health earns high marks for emergency preparedness

According to a new report on public health emergency preparedness, Ohio is well prepared for public health care emergency, only falling short on its ability to electronically share data with providers (Source: “Ohio earned a nine on readiness to deal with public health emergencies,” Associated Press via Middletown Journal, Dec. 14, 2010).

The annual report (pdf, 52 pages) by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the state met nine of 10 indicators for preparedness for handling diseases, disasters and bioterrorism. Ohio was one of 11 states to meet 9 standards and only three states— Arkansas, North Dakota and Washington — were given perfect scores. However, Ohio was one of just seven states that did not have a system in place for electronic data sharing to health care providers.