Ohio Improves Slightly in Health Care Quality Measures

Ohio's health care measured low-average against the US in 2005, but improved slightly since since the previous year, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

AHRQ's State Snapshots examine health care service, diagnoses, patient satisfaction and other indicators in a series of reports and tables.  Specifically, the 2005 State Snapshots provide:

• Performance meters that show the State’s performance on summary measures such as health care service, diagnosis of disease, improvements, appointments, and patient satisfaction for various settings (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes).
• Comparisons against the nation or the region are presented in tables and rankings.
• An additional report on diabetes is included.
• Finally, the report details the methods used on how the summary measures were developed, scored, and presented.

Results for Ohio

A total of 95 measures were reported in the dashboard snapshot reports for Ohio.  22 measures for Ohio were found to be better than the average of all US states. Some of these were:

• Lower rates of advanced stage at diagnosis for breast and cervical cancer
• An improvement in beta blockers administered to patients within 24 hours of admission due to heart attack
• A lower rate of HIV-infection deaths per 100,000 population
• Higher percent of pregnant females receiving prenatal care
• Improvements in nursing home and home health care for several indicators

40 measures for Ohio were found to be similar to the US average.

33 other measures for Ohio were found to be worse than average against the US average, including:

• Higher rates of cancer deaths (overall)
• Higher rates of breast cancer deaths
• Higher rates of lung and colorectal cancer deaths 
• Poorer performance of many indicators reflecting timely care and avoidable admissions for diabetes
• Higher rates and worsening trends of low birthweight and very low birthweight babies
• Higher infant mortality
• Higher and worsening suicide rates
• Worsening rates of depression, anxiety and urinary tract infections among chronic care nursing home residents
• Worsening rates among short-stay nursing home residents with moderate to severe pain despite some improvement in overall pain management.

These data should aid citizens, health care agencies, state officials and insurers understand health care quality in Ohio and help identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvements.

Reports are available in a new interactive web-based tool from the AHRQ Website:

Quality Tools

Ohio's Healthcare Performance Meter

State Snapshots 2005  

Summary tables comparing Ohio to East North Central states.