RI Ranked 3rd Best State for Healthcare in U.S.
Tuesday, August 06, 2019
Rhode Island is one of the best states in the country for healthcare.
According to a recent study completed by WalletHub, Rhode Island is the third best state in the U.S. for healthcare behind only Minnesota and Massachusetts, who rank first and second respectively.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Today, the average American spends more than $10,000 per year on personal health care, according to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That’s about 17.9 percent of the U.S. GDP,” writes WalletHub.
With the Affordable Care Act remaining in effect and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting that over 87 percent of the population has a regular place to go for medical care in the United States.
All six New England states were ranked in the top 13 states in the country.
Higher costs do not necessarily translate to better results.
According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the U.S. lags behind several other wealthy nations on several measures, such as health coverage, life expectancy and disease burden, which measures longevity and quality of life. However, the U.S. has improved in giving more healthcare access for people in worse health, and healthcare cost growth has slowed somewhat.
RI’s Rankings
- 3rd Best– Avg. Monthly Insurance Premium
- 18th Best– Hospital Beds per Capita
- 3rd Best– Physicians per Capita
- 30th Best– Dentists per Capita
- 18th Best– Physician Medicare-Acceptance Rate
- 10th Best– % of Insured Adults
- 9th Best– % of Insured Children
- 1st– % of At-Risk Adults with No Routine Doctor Visit in Past Two Years
- 3rd Best– % of Adults with No Dental Visit in Past Year
The Rankings
The top five states for healthcare are:
1. Minnesota
2. Massachusetts
3. Rhode Island
4. District of Columbia
5. Vermont
The worst state for healthcare is Alaska.
See the complete rankings in the map below.
The Method
In order to determine the best and worst states for health care, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Cost, 2) Access and 3) Outcomes.
WalletHub evaluated those dimensions using 43 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best health care at the most reasonable cost.
Finally, WalletHub determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
Cost – Total Points: 33.33
- Cost of Medical Visit: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Average Hospital Expenses per Inpatient Day at Community Hospitals: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Cost of Dental Visit: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Average Monthly Insurance Premium: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Share of High Out-of-Pocket Medical Spending: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Share of Adults with No Doctor Visits Due to Cost: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
Access – Total Points: 33.33
- Quality of Public Hospital System: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Hospital Beds per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Average Response Time from EMS Notification to EMS Arrival (minutes): Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Average Emergency-Room Wait Time: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Transfer Time: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Physicians per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Geriatricians per Population Aged 65 Years & Older: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Nurse Practitioners per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Physician Assistants per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- EMTs & Paramedics per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Urgent-Care Centers per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Retail Clinics per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Medicare Certified Rural Health Clinics per Rural Population: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Dentists per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Share of Medical Residents Retained: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Medicare Acceptance Rate Among Physicians: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Medicaid Acceptance Rate Among Physicians: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Share of Insured Adults: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Share of Insured Children: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Share of Adults with No Personal Doctor: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Status of State ACA Innovation Waivers: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Presence of Telehealth: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
- Patient Encounters in Community Health Centers per Capita: Full Weight (~1.45 Points)
Outcomes – Total Points: 33.33
- Infant Mortality Rate: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Child Mortality Rate: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Maternal Mortality Rate: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of Patients Readmitted to Hospitals: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of Hospitalized Patients Discharged Without Instructions for Home Recovery: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of Hospital Patients Who Did Not Receive Patient-Centered Care: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Life Expectancy: Double Weight (~4.44 Points)
- Cancer Incidence Rate: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Heart Disease Rate: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of At-Risk Adults with No Routine Doctor Visit in Past Two Years: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of Adults with No Dental Visit in Past Year: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of Children with Medical & Dental Preventive-Care Visits in Past Year: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
- Share of Non-Immunized Children: Full Weight (~2.22 Points)
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