How California Healthcare stacks up

January 28, 2010 – 5:25 am

Over the past decade many governmental entities and private organizations have tried to quantify the quality of healthcare in America. The bottom line is that there is wide variance in the quality and cost of healthcare through the United States. It is hoped that by tracking the results of the various studies that are being conducted around the country, that the quality of healthcare can be improved while the increase in the cost of care can be restrained.

The California Healthcare Foundation has sponsored a comparative study which compares the quality of California Healthcare to that in the rest of the Nation. If the state of California were in school it would receive a ‘C’ for the performance of its healthcare system, compared to the rest of the nation.

California outperforms the National average in:

Maternity and child healthcare
Hospital care of patients with heart problems and pneumonia
Cancer rates and cancer mortality rates

California underperforms the National average in:

Care for geriatric patients
Nursing home quality of care
Diabetes diagnosis and treatment

California has about average care in:

Hospital re-admission rates
Improvement in hospital treatment of Pneumonia and Heart disease
Home healthcare providers

In the years covered by the study (2001 – 2005), the average annual increase in healthcare costs was 6.5 %, while the increase in quality of healthcare grew only 1.4%. This suggests that there is room for improvement in the cost effectiveness of healthcare throughout the Nation.

The most interesting result of the study is that California outperforms the National average in the care of the younger portion of the population. California scored high in care of expectant mothers, infants, and children. California performed well on measures related to pre-natal care, low birth weight, and low infant mortality rates. California ranked high in birth-related traumas, immunization levels for children, and reduction in admission rates of certain pediatric conditions.

Treatment for cancer and heart related conditions are at the national level of care, or slightly above the national average. Measures of standard of care in surgical treatment in hospitals and outpatient care are inline with the national averages.

At the other end of the population age scale the State under performed in most categories of geriatric care. The number of seniors receiving vaccinations is below the national average. End of life care is measured as falling below the National standard of care, and the quality of nursing home care falls short of the national average.

It is important to note the California improved in its treatment of Pneumonia, cancer, and heart related cases faster than the national average. This may indicate that the standard of care in California is improving at a faster rate than the nation as a whole. However, there were still total of 1031 preventable adverse events in California hospitals in 2007. Since 2007 a total of 57 hospitals were fined $25,000 for each licensure violation.

ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

The data from this study would seem to indicate that the California healthcare system does a good job in treating the younger segment of the population. It does an average job in treating health conditions of the general population. But it does a poor job in the treatment of the older segment of the population. This may be because the population of California is younger than the average population throughout the rest of the nation. Perhaps more emphasis is placed on the younger patients, or California attracts better qualified doctors because of the younger population. In any case, the state of California may want to reallocate its healthcare resources to provide better healthcare for the geriatric portion of its population. This will become even more important as the population ages.

The complete study can be found in the California Health Care Almanac: Quality of Care facts and figures, August 2009

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