RI Ranked 10th Best State in U.S. for Healthcare
GoLocalProv News Team
RI Ranked 10th Best State in U.S. for Healthcare
According to a recent study completed by WalletHub, Rhode Island is the 10th best state in the country when it comes to healthcare.
“Higher costs don’t necessarily translate to better results. In its latest analysis of global health care quality, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that the U.S. remains outperformed by several other wealthy nations on several measures, such as health coverage, life expectancy and disease burden, which measures longevity and quality of life. However, the U.S. has progressed in others, particularly “its ability to promote health and provide high-quality care, with some recent improvement in the accessibility of that care and a slowing of spending growth,” said WalletHub.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRI’s Rankings:
- 12th Best – Avg. Monthly Insurance Premium
- 14th Best – Hospital Beds per Capita
- 3rd Best – Physicians per Capita
- 18th Best – Physician Medicare-Acceptance Rate
- 13th Best – % of Insured Adults Aged 18 to 64
- 13th Best – % of Insured Children Aged 0 to 17
- 2nd Best – % of At-Risk Adults with No Routine Doctor Visit in Past Two Years
- 4th Best– % of Adults with No Dental Visit in Past Year
The Rankings
Rhode Island is ranked behind Vermont and Massachusetts, who rank 8th and 9th respectively. RI is ranked ahead of Maryland and Kansas, who rank 11th and 12th respectively.
Hawaii is ranked as the best state in the U.S. for healthcare, while Louisiana is ranked as the worst state.
See the full rankings in the map below
The Method
In order to determine the best and worst states for healthcare, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Cost, 2) Access and 3) Outcomes.
They evaluated those dimensions using 35 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best healthcare at the most reasonable cost.
Lastly, they determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
Cost – Total Points: 33.33
- Cost of Medical Visit: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Cost of Dental Visit: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Average Monthly Insurance Premium: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Share of High Out-of-Pocket Medical Spending: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
- Share of Adults with No Doctor Visits Due to Cost: Full Weight (~11.11 Points)
Access – Total Points: 33.33
- Quality of Public Hospital System: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Hospital Beds per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Average Emergency-Room Wait Time: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Physicians per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Nurse Practitioners per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Physician Assistants per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- EMTs & Paramedics per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Urgent-Care Centers per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Retail Clinics per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Dentists per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Share of Medical Residents Retained: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Medicare Acceptance Rate Among Physicians: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Medicaid Acceptance Rate Among Physicians: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Share of Insured Adults: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Share of Insured Children: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Share of Adults with No Personal Doctor: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Presence of Telehealth: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
- Patient Encounters in Community Health Centers per Capita: Full Weight (~1.85 Points)
Outcomes – Total Points: 33.33
- Infant Mortality Rate: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Child Mortality Rate: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Maternal Mortality Rate: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Share of Patients Readmitted to Hospitals: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Life Expectancy: Double Weight (~4.76 Points)
- Cancer Rate: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Heart Disease Rate: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Share of Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Share of At-Risk Adults with No Routine Doctor Visit in Past Two Years: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Share of Adults with No Dental Visit in Past Year: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Share of Children with Medical & Dental Preventive-Care Visits in Past Year: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
- Share of Non-Immunized Children: Full Weight (~2.38 Points)
The Power List - Health and Education, 2016
Inside Man
Russell Carey - A name few outside of Brown’s campus know, but Carey is the power source at the Providence Ivy League institution.
Today, his title is Executive Vice President and he has had almost every title at Brown short of President. Carey is a 1991 graduate of Brown and has never left College Hill.
While Brown’s President Christine Paxson — who is functionally invisible in Rhode Island — is managing alumni affairs and fundraising, Carey is influencing almost everything in Rhode Island.
Top Raimondo Appointment
Nicole Alexander-Scott - MD, MPH, and rock star in the making. As Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, she is fast developing a reputation as someone in the Raimondo Administration who can get things done. Her counsel and leadership on developing a strategy on opioid addiction has been widely been lauded.
In addition, she has handled the mundane - from beach closings to food recalls - with competency. An expert in infectious disease, it may be time for her to become a strong leader on Zika.
The CEO
Ronald Machtley - Bryant University's President rightfully deserves to be on a lot of lists, but what few understand is that Machtley’s influence extends far beyond Bryant’s campus in Smithfield. Machtley could make this list as a business leader or as a political force as much as for education.
Machtley is recognized for transforming Bryant University from a financially struggling regional college to a university with a national reputation for business.
Machtley serves on Amica’s Board and the Rhode Island Foundation, and also serves on the Board of Fantex Brands.
Power Broker
Larry Purtill - While Bob Walsh gets the face time as the Executive Director in the media for the NEA of Rhode Island, NEARI President Purtill tends to be the inside man who gets things done.
The teachers' largest union is formidable, but is still reeling from the beat down it took when Gina Raimondo’s pension reform cut the benefits of teachers disproportionately over other employee groups.
Make no mistake about it - not much happens in education in Rhode Island without Purtill's sign-off.
Visionary
Mim Runey - While Rhode Islanders wait, and wait some more, for development on the 195 land, Johnson and Wale's University's Runey is watching it come to fruition, as JWU is set to open the first completed building on the former Interstate on September 1, when it will host a ribbon cutting for its John J. Bowen Center for Science and Innovation.
Under Runey, JWU continues to establish its foothold as one of the country's top schools for culinary training. Now Runey will oversee the addition of the new building on the old 195 which will house the university's School of Engineering and Design and its biology program.
In 2015, students from the School of Engineering & Design participated in the construction of the Holocaust Memorial on South Main Street, a collaboration between the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and the Holocaust Education Resource Center of Rhode Island.
A true community partner in every sense, JWU under Runey's watchful eye is expanding to an even greater presence in Providence.
Chairman of the Board
Edwin J. Santos - The former banker is Chairman of the Board of CharterCare, after having been a top executive at Citizens Bank. He has been a board leader for Crossroads, Washington Trust, Rocky Hill School -- you name it and Santos has helped to lead it.
His best work to date just might be at CharterCare, where he has helped the once fledgling hospital (Roger Williams Medical Center) into a growing hospital system.
Lion Tamer
Weber Shill - He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of University Orthopedics, or in other words, dozens and dozens of oh-so-confident docs.
Shill has a background in Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from the Whitemore School at the University of New Hampshire. Experienced in managing medical groups, but this group is big and influential.
Boss
Timothy Babineau - President and CEO of Lifespan, Rhode Island's biggest healthcare organization, where financial challenges make the job that much more complicated.
Now, the critics (GoLocalProv included) are raising concerns about the multi- billion dollar organization's refusal to make any contribution to the City of Providence. Lifespan is like General Motors, big and hard to innovate the organization.
