Massachusetts ranked second in a brand new examine that measures states’ general response to COVID-19.
“The first vaccine became available to all states at the same time in late 2020. States took different approaches to distributing doses to people, especially early on when vaccine supplies were limited,” said the “Scorecard on State Health System Performance,” a report launched Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, which discovered that solely Hawaii topped the Bay State in how nicely it dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based basis that helps impartial analysis on well being care points, ranked all states based mostly on 56 measures of healthcare entry and high quality, service use and value, well being disparities and well being outcomes throughout 2020.
In the states that moved quickest to get photographs in arms — Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine — 70% of the inhabitants age 12 and older had grow to be totally vaccinated inside 200 days of vaccine availability, the report mentioned. The worst-ranked have been Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
“People have to be willing to get the shots,” mentioned David Radley, one of many report’s authors.
The stark toll of the pandemic goes nicely past deaths from the virus itself. All states reported extra deaths than typical, from COVID in addition to different causes because the pandemic started in February 2020.
Historically stronger well being methods like Massachusetts and Hawaii had the perfect well being outcomes, together with decrease charges of preventable deaths and general more healthy populations, the report mentioned.
Drug overdose deaths elevated to file highs in 2020, as individuals coped with the pandemic and rather more potent artificial opioids, resembling fentanyl, entered the drug provide.
Massachusetts ranked sixth within the share change from 2019 to 2020, with a roughly 5% change in overdose demise charges throughout that interval.
The Bay State, nevertheless, additionally ranked first within the nation when it got here to medical health insurance protection and entry to care. Massachusetts reported the bottom fee of uninsured adults at 3.6%.
But whereas well being protection held regular, use of well being companies declined. Spending per individual in Medicare declined in all areas, reflecting steep drop-offs in well being care use amongst individuals 65 and older.
In New England, spending dropped from simply over $10,000 in 2019 to only beneath $9,500 in 2020.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”