Performance of States' Health Care Systems Discussed in JAMA
<p>In a new <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1867403&utm_source=S…; "Viewpoint"</a> published online today, The Commonwealth Fund's Douglas McCarthy, Cathy Schoen, and David Radley discuss implications of our latest <a href="/publications/fund-reports/2014/apr/aiming-higher-results-scorecard-state-health-system-performance">Scorecard on State Health System Performance</a>, released earlier today. The scorecard's results highlight the critical role that policymakers and local health care leaders play in those states that managed to improve in key areas. </p><p>Those successes, the authors say, "suggest an opportunity for physicians to join with others to exert leadership in both medical practice and the policy arena so that such gains become the norm in coming years."</p>
<p>According to the scorecard, a majority of U.S. states declined or failed to improve on two-thirds of the measures tracked over the five years immediately preceding implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Interact with the data in the <a href="~/link.aspx?_id=448C3C5D512946C993403B98F4AD3ECC&_z=z">U.S. Health System Data Center</a> on commonwealthfund.org.</p>