Federal Health-Care Quality Report Puts Minnesota at No. 2 Nationally

State's overall health care improves from No. 3 last year

ST. PAUL, Minn., June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The quality of health care in Minnesota improved from third-best in the nation last year to second-best this year, an annual federal report says.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which operates under the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, issued its "State Snapshots for the 2010 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report" Tuesday (http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/).

The report is a summary of dozens of health-care quality measures by state along several dimensions of health care — overall; by type of care (preventive, acute, and chronic); by setting of care (hospital, ambulatory, nursing home, home health); by clinical area (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, maternal and child health, and respiratory conditions); by clinical preventive services; and by special focus areas, including disparities (race/ethnicity and community income) and payer. State-level information, based on data collected for the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR), is displayed graphically.

Minnesota's overall care was again labeled "strong" this year, the second-highest level of five categories. By setting of care, Minnesota's rankings were:

• eighth in hospital care;
• fourth in ambulatory care;
• fifth in nursing home care; and
• 45th in home care.

New Hampshire was ranked No. 1 in overall health-care quality, with a meter score of 65.49 out of 100; Minnesota's overall health care meter score was 64.46. Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island followed.

For an explanation on how the meter scoring works, visit http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/snaps10/download/MN_2010_Snapshots.pdf.

To learn more about the Minnesota Hospital Association, visit www.mnhospitals.org.

The Minnesota Hospital Association represents Minnesota's hospitals and health systems.

SOURCE Minnesota Hospital Association

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