June 24, 2010
According to new annual report from the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that focuses on health care, the U.S. health system presents a rather dismal picture in terms of overall quality of health care.
The analysis comparing the nations spending and health outcomes with seven other industrialized nations, found that despite outspending the other competitors, the Americans are getting less for their money and are languishing behind in common health issues.
The Commonwealth Fund's president, Karen Davis, stated, "On many measures of health system performance, the U.S. has a long way to go to perform as well as other countries that spend far less than we do on healthcare, yet cover everyone.
"It is disappointing, but not surprising, that despite our significant investment in health care, the U.S. continues to lag behind other countries.”
America scored poorly in most of the five key areas of health service in comparison to the other six competitors despite the country’s healthcare system being the most expensive in the world.
The rankings of the 7 countries
The Commonwealth Fund report was based on a survey of both patients and primary care doctors for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The focus of the report was five essential measures of health care- access to care, equity, quality, efficiency and the ability to live long, healthy, productive lives.
The overall winner was Netherlands scoring the highest in the list. The country topped in access and in equity, and ranked second in quality of care.
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The Dutch were closely followed by UK and Australia while Canada ranked sixth and America fared the worst in the list.
US healthcare system the most expensive in the world
The United States scored poorly in most of the five key areas of health service despite the country’s healthcare system being the most expensive in the world.
The other six countries spend approximately half that of the United States yet are able to provide better universal care to its citizens.
In 2007, the nation spent $7290 per person which was more than double that of Canada, three times more than New Zealand and also much higher compared to the $3800 per person, spent in the Netherlands.
Some specific findings In areas of providing safe care, the United States ranks last and second last on coordinated care.
Patients with a chronic condition in the nation are most likely to be given the wrong medication and the wrong dose and delays in being informed about abnormal test results.
Another major problem is efficiency. The nation also ranks last on spending on administrative costs, use of information technology, duplicate medical testing and re-hospitalization.
In addition, the nation fared the worst in infant mortality and healthy life expectancy among older adults.
A large number of Americans go without care because of the cost. The report pointed out that the United States was the only country on the list that does not give all citizens healthcare coverage.
The authors of the report stated, "For all countries, responses indicate room for improvement. Yet, the other six countries spend considerably less on health care per person and as a percent of gross domestic product than does the United States.
“These findings indicate that, from the perspectives of both physicians and patients, the US health care system could do much better in achieving value for the nation's substantial investment in health."
.
The analysis comparing the nations spending and health outcomes with seven other industrialized nations, found that despite outspending the other competitors, the Americans are getting less for their money and are languishing behind in common health issues.
The Commonwealth Fund's president, Karen Davis, stated, "On many measures of health system performance, the U.S. has a long way to go to perform as well as other countries that spend far less than we do on healthcare, yet cover everyone.
"It is disappointing, but not surprising, that despite our significant investment in health care, the U.S. continues to lag behind other countries.”
America scored poorly in most of the five key areas of health service in comparison to the other six competitors despite the country’s healthcare system being the most expensive in the world.
The rankings of the 7 countries
The Commonwealth Fund report was based on a survey of both patients and primary care doctors for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The focus of the report was five essential measures of health care- access to care, equity, quality, efficiency and the ability to live long, healthy, productive lives.
The overall winner was Netherlands scoring the highest in the list. The country topped in access and in equity, and ranked second in quality of care.
åç
The Dutch were closely followed by UK and Australia while Canada ranked sixth and America fared the worst in the list.
US healthcare system the most expensive in the world
The United States scored poorly in most of the five key areas of health service despite the country’s healthcare system being the most expensive in the world.
The other six countries spend approximately half that of the United States yet are able to provide better universal care to its citizens.
In 2007, the nation spent $7290 per person which was more than double that of Canada, three times more than New Zealand and also much higher compared to the $3800 per person, spent in the Netherlands.
Some specific findings In areas of providing safe care, the United States ranks last and second last on coordinated care.
Patients with a chronic condition in the nation are most likely to be given the wrong medication and the wrong dose and delays in being informed about abnormal test results.
Another major problem is efficiency. The nation also ranks last on spending on administrative costs, use of information technology, duplicate medical testing and re-hospitalization.
In addition, the nation fared the worst in infant mortality and healthy life expectancy among older adults.
A large number of Americans go without care because of the cost. The report pointed out that the United States was the only country on the list that does not give all citizens healthcare coverage.
The authors of the report stated, "For all countries, responses indicate room for improvement. Yet, the other six countries spend considerably less on health care per person and as a percent of gross domestic product than does the United States.
“These findings indicate that, from the perspectives of both physicians and patients, the US health care system could do much better in achieving value for the nation's substantial investment in health."
.