Moving Up the Ranks: How the U.S. Could Improve Health Care System Performance
<p>Since 2004, research from the Commonwealth Fund has found that the U.S. health care system ranks last among a group of high-income countries, despite the fact that we spend far more on health care. A new edition of the Fund’s <em></em><a href="/interactives/2017/july/mirror-mirror/" target="_blank"><em>Mirror, Mirror</em> report</a>, published Friday, shows this trend continuing, with the U.S. lagging other countries on measures of access to care, equity, and affordability. </p><p>In a new “Perspective,” in the <em><a href="/publications/journal-article/2017/jul/last-first-could-us-health-care-system-become-best-world">New England Journal of Medicine</a></em>, titled “From Last to First—Could the U.S. Health Care System Become the Best in the World?” the Fund’s senior vice president and lead author of <em>Mirror Mirror 2017</em> Eric Schneider, M.D., and David Squires discuss the reasons behind the country’s poor performance. They include lack of access to health care, underinvestment in primary care, administrative inefficiency, and pervasive disparities in the delivery of care. The researchers also describe ways the U.S. could improve system performance like ensuring universal coverage and strengthening behavioral health and social supports. </p>
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