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A new analysis and chart collection finds that the U.S. has fewer hospital beds and practicing physicians per capita than many similarly large and wealthy countries with health care systems already strained by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
This data note examines the financial performance of the three largest for-profit hospital systems in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. All three health systems have had positive operating margins that have exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the majority of the pandemic, including in the third quarter of 2022.
This chart collection examines how life expectancy in the U.S. compares to that of other similarly large and wealthy countries. Between 2019 and 2022, the U.S. experienced a sharper decline and a slower rebound in life expectancy than peer countries, on average, due to increased mortality and premature death rates in the U.S. from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, life expectancy in the U.S. returned to pre-pandemic levels, but remains lower than that of comparable countries.
This slideshow compares mortality rates in the United States and other industrialized countries for seven major causes of death. The data show that U.S. mortality rates for circulatory diseases and cancer have fallen in the past 30 years, driving a decline in the nation's overall rate. However, mortality rates for leading causes of death other than cancer are higher in the United States than the average for comparable countries.
In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses this week's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report on health spending and assesses the current effort to control health-care costs.
This chart collection examines five types of indicators: outcomes of treatment, provision of appropriate treatment, patient safety, preventive services, and health system capacity and workforce shortages. Measuring quality in health care is complex: a vast number of metrics are used to monitor health system performance since there is no singular definition of quality, and data is often limited and delayed.
The U.S. has 2.8 hospital beds for every 1,000 people, which is similar to bed capacity in Canada and the United Kingdom, but less than other similarly wealthy countries like Italy and Spain, countries that have already been overwhelmed by the coronavirus. Learn more in this Chart of the Week.
Both the private and public sectors are testing various care delivery transformation models to improve quality, reduce morbidity and mortality, and contain the costs of treatment. The Alliance for Health Reform and WellPoint, Inc. hosted a September 10 briefing to discuss delivery system innovations, Medicare care coordination, and low-spending health care practices.
A new animated video on the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker provides an engaging “check-up” of the nation’s health system, addressing questions of whether it’s getting better or worse and how it compares to other countries.
This analysis compares 2021 data about deaths in the U.S. and 11 other large, wealthy countries by age and cause to understand the primary drivers of the longevity gap between the U.S. and the comparable countries. It finds that the primary reasons for the gap in 2021 were chronic disease, COVID-19 and substance use disorders.
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