Ohio’s child health system ranked 19th in Commonwealth scorecard

The Commonwealth Fund has released its “State Scorecard on Child Health System Performance, 2011” and Ohio is ranked 19th overall.

The annual report card (pdf, 92 pages) examines states’ performance on 20 indicators of children’s health care access, affordability of care, prevention and treatment, the potential to lead healthy lives, and health system equity.

Ohio ranked 8th in preventional and treatment, 27th in equity and 36th in “potential to lead healthy lives.” Of the 20 indicators graded, the state was ranked in the top 5 in 2, in the top quartile in 3, in the second quartile in 10 and in the third quartile in 5.

“The findings demonstrate that federal and state policy actions maintained and, in some cases, expanded children’s insurance coverage during the recent recession, even as many parents lost coverage,” the report concludes.

The report also highlights, under its prevention and treatment section, the asthma improvement collaborative created in 2003 by the 165 Southwestern Ohio physicians in the Physician-Hospital Organization and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. From 2003 to 2006, the percentage of the asthma population in the network receiving “perfect care” increased from 4 percent to 88 percent.