Updated Dashboard Highlights Key Indicators of U.S. Health System Performance

	Just Released
Updated Dashboard Highlights Key Indicators of U.S. Health System Performance Newly updated and expanded, the Health System Dashboard compiles data on the U.S. health system’s performance in four areas: access and affordability, health and well being, health spending, and quality of care. Users can explore trends over time, as well as disparities and differences across demographic groups. The dashboard also includes indicators comparing health outcomes and spending in the U.S. to that of other wealthy countries. A companion brief draws on the dashboard’s indicators to provide a broad overview of quality of care and outcomes in the U.S., and finds that while the health system has improved by many measures, its overall performance continues to lag behind that of comparable countries, and certain outcomes, like longevity and disease burden, are worsening. Among the findings presented: After trending upward for decades, U.S. life expectancy began to drop in 2015, due in part to opioid overdose deaths. While comparable countries tracked similar declines in 2015, their average life expectancies have rebounded since then, widening the gap between the U.S. and other wealthy nations. Among comparable countries, the U.S. ranks lowest in avoiding deaths considered preventable by timely and effective health care. Per capita health spending growth has leveled off in recent years in the U.S., as has been the case in comparable countries as well. However, the U.S. is still spending about twice as much as other countries for similar - and in some cases lower - levels of care utilization, due to higher health care prices. The Health System Dashboard is available on the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker, a partnership between the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF that monitors the U.S. health system’s performance on key quality and cost measures. Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.
Contact: Ashley Joyce | (202) 347-5270 | ashleyj@kff.org
kff.org | kaiserhealthnews.org Connect with us: