HPIO releases 2026 Health Value Dashboard

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The Health Policy Institute of Ohio has released the seventh edition of its Health Value Dashboard, which found that Ohio ranks 43rd on health value compared to other states and D.C. That means that Ohioans continue to live less healthy lives and spend more on health care than people in most other states.
 
HPIO will be hosting a webinar from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, to review key findings from the Dashboard, highlight trends across major drivers of health and examine disparities affecting Ohioans with the greatest needs. Participants will also learn about opportunities for Ohio leaders to advance policies that have the power to strengthen access to resources, reduce barriers and improve health value in Ohio.
 
The Dashboard is a collection of tools and resources that compare Ohio’s performance to all other states on measures of population health, healthcare spending and the factors that influence health.

The primary purpose of the Dashboard is to highlight Ohio’s strengths and challenges and spark questions that lead to data-driven policy that improves health, health equity and the value of healthcare spending in Ohio. Analysis of 2026 Dashboard data found mental health (illustrated above), healthcare affordability and child well-being are three key areas in which policy action could lead to improved health value in Ohio.
 
HPIO released previous editions in 2024, 2023, 2021, 2019, 2017 and 2014. The 2026 Health Value Dashboard includes:

• A four-page SNAPSHOT with a summary of findings from the 2026 Health Value Dashboard
• A 16-page KEY FINDINGS publication with Dashboard data and closer looks at Ohio populations that face the greatest challenges to achieving good health
• A 24-page DATA BOOK with full ranked data tables for 100+ metrics and disaggregated data for many metrics 
• A data appendix Excel spreadsheet with metric descriptions, years, sources and Ohio data (including disaggregated data)
• Facts & Figures, a slide deck with data graphics from the report, formatted and available for public use

 
About the Dashboard

► How does Ohio perform compared to the last edition of the Dashboard?

• Ohio’s health value rank is 43 in the 2026 edition. Ohio’s rank in the 2024 edition was 44. Because the metrics that go into the health value rank have changed slightly in each edition, comparing Ohio’s health value rank across editions is not recommended.
• Looking at trends relative to other states across all metrics in the Dashboard, Ohio saw more improvement than worsening. Ohio improved on 35% and worsened on 25% of metrics where trend was assessed.
• The healthcare system domain had the highest proportion of metrics that improved, while the healthcare spending domain had the highest proportion of metrics that worsened.
• There are no worsened metrics in three domains: public health and prevention, social and economic environment, and physical environment.
• Due to the lag in data availability, the 2026 Dashboard does not reflect major policy changes to health programs such as Medicaid and the federal health insurance marketplace from the federal reconciliation bill HR 1, which is anticipated to have significant funding and enrollment impacts on these programs.

► How can we improve health value in Ohio?
The 2026 Health Value Dashboard highlights three key findings. Each key finding includes a set of considerations for policy progress (i.e., strategies or pending policy decisions) related to the key finding topic area. These considerations were developed based on policies, programs and services with strong evidence of effectiveness, while bearing in mind anticipated effects of recent policy decisions, such as those in HR 1. Research evidence indicates that the featured policies and programs are likely to decrease disparities, improve outcomes and, in some cases, have demonstrated cost effectiveness or cost savings. The Key Findings from the 2026 Health Value Dashboard list considerations for policy progress.
 
► Why does HPIO produce the Dashboard?
Improving health and addressing healthcare spending growth are concerns shared by policymakers, private sector leaders and Ohioans in general. Many Ohioans face barriers to being healthy, and collecting and sharing publicly available data provides insights into the wide variety of factors that influence health and healthcare spending. Rankings are an important starting place to understand Ohio’s performance relative to other states. The Dashboard also highlights evidence-informed policies that can be implemented at the state and local levels to address Ohio’s health challenges and move the state toward achieving health equity.