When it comes to health care, Maryland is a top-tier state, according to a new survey.
The state ranked fourth for lowest-cost health care, 21st in access to care, and 23rd in patient outcomes. Those findings make Maryland the 12th best state overall — ahead of all but one of its neighbors.
The analysis was put together by WalletHub, a Washington, D.C.-based credit-monitoring firm.
WalletHub asked a group of heath care experts to look at 43 different factors.
A random sampling:
— What’s the average cost of an in-patient stay at a community hospital?
— What’s the incidence of infant, child and maternal mortality in each state?
— How many adults put off visits to a doctor because they can’t afford them?
— How many doctors, nurses and geriatricians does each state have per capita?
— What percentage of patients don’t receive “patient-centered care”?
“According to the CDC, 87.6 percent of the population has a regular place to go for medical care,” the site said in a statement. “But the cost and service quality of that care can vary widely from state to state.
WalletHub also noted that higher costs don’t always lead to better outcomes.
Pennsylvania came in 15th in the site’s survey, Virginia 21st and Delaware 29th.
Only the District of Columbia, which ranked fourth, came in higher. D.C. scored in the Top 5 for most physicians, dentists and hospital beds per capita, in the percentage of both children and adults to have health insurance, and for its cancer rate.
Link to report: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-best-health-care/23457/#ask-the-experts