Ohio Health Value Review
May 2025
The Ohio Health Value Review is a quarterly electronic update from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio designed to provide evidence-informed resources and highlight opportunities for sectors to work together to improve health value in our state. If you have questions about the newsletter or have suggested tools or resources you would like to see included in future editions, please contact Nick Wiselogel, HPIO’s Vice President of Communications and Design.
Health value graphic
Cannabis use among Ohio teens was relatively low in 2021, with Ohio ranking 10th best compared to other states and D.C. in HPIO’s 2024 Health Value Dashboard.
However, the Dashboard found that “with the recent legalization of recreational use for adults, policymakers will have to consider strategies to ensure that use does not increase among teens.”
One evidence-based strategy to support public health and safety is to reinvest tax revenue from addictive substances into prevention, treatment and recovery.
In current law, 25% of cannabis tax revenue supports a Substance Abuse and Addiction Fund managed by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, as illustrated below. The Governor's proposed version of the next state operating budget reduced that percentage to 14%, and the house-passed version eliminated any specific allocations to addiction prevention, treatment and recovery.
Click to enlarge
Health value resources
The resources below, organized by the domains in HPIO’s Health Value Dashboard, can be used to help improve health value in Ohio.
Population health and healthcare spending
- Health Spending Issues to Watch This Year –– KFF
- Multisector Community-Driven Strategies to Improve Maternal Health –– Commonwealth Fund
- From Mandate to Market: Executing Hospital Price Transparency with Impact –– Mathematica
Social and economic environment
- Data Snapshot: Effects of the Child Tax Credit on Poverty, Health and Well-Being –– HPIO
- State Policy Roadmap: Leveraging Medicaid to Support Housing and Nutrition in Ohio –– HPIO
Physical environment
- Environment strongly influences chronic disease development –– National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
- State of the Air 2025 –– American Lung Association
- Walkability Isn’t Just Good Urban Planning: It’s a Public Health Intervention –– The Urbanist
Access to care
- Policy Considerations: The Future of Group VIII (Expansion) Medicaid Coverage in Ohio –– HPIO
- 2025 Ohio Medicaid Expansion Study: Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment –– HPIO
- How Work Requirements Would Affect Medicaid Coverage in Each Expansion State –– Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- How Does Medicaid Benefit States? –– Commonwealth Fund
Healthcare system
- Making the hospital tax exemption work for Ohio: An analysis of nonprofit hospital tax exemptions and community investments –– Lown Institute
- Hospital Revenue Losses And Increased Uncompensated Care If Medicaid Funding Is Cut –– Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Public health and prevention
- Ohio Public Health Basics 2025 –– HPIO
- Ready or Not 2025: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism –– Trust for America’s Health
Health equity
- Elimination of Federal Diversity Initiatives: Implications for Racial Health Equity –– KFF
- Promoting Policy Tools That Advance Health and Racial Equity –– Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Revealing Disparities: Health Care Workers’ Observations of Discrimination Against Patients –– Commonwealth Fund
