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KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the organization’s core operating programs.
The Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker is an online hub monitoring how well the U.S. health system is operating through key quality and cost measures. Visit the Tracker →
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.
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.
The quality of the U.S. health system is improving in many areas, but comparable countries continue to outperform the United States on key measures. In this brief on the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker, analysts from the Kaiser Family Foundation compile an overall picture of health care quality in the United States, using the best available data from numerous sources on health outcomes, quality of care, and access to services.
The Alliance for Health Reform and WellPoint, Inc. discuss the role of urgent care centers and retail clinics emerging within the health care system.
With so many Americans dying, and so many more suffering severe economic hardship, it’s hard to look over the horizon at the larger questions the COVID-19 crisis will bring. The current emergency requires everyone’s attention 24/7. But an emerging set of questions will fall right in the bailiwick of the health policy community.
This slideshow examines the U.S. health care system and its resources in comparison with other industrialized countries. The data examine the relative number of hospital beds, doctors and nurses in the U.S. and other countries, as well as the availability and use of MRI machines as an example of medical technology.
This chart collection compare health outcomes, quality of care, and access to services between the U.S. and peer countries. While inconsistent and imperfect metrics make it difficult to firmly assess system-wide health quality in the U.S., a review of the available data prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that in most of these measures, the U.S. has lagged behind comparably large and wealthy countries.
More than half of U.S. health spending went toward hospital and physician services in 2018. Learn more about the breakdown of the nation's health spending in the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.
In general, people in the United States use the health system less than people in comparable countries, and services in the U.S. are consistently more expensive than in countries of similar size and wealth. This slideshow examines price and utilization of several healthcare services, including magnetic resonance imaging, caesarian sections, angioplasty surgery and coronary bypass surgery, through data from the International Federation of Health Plans and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
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