1. Geographic Variation in Health System Performance: Findings from
THE
COMMONWEALTH
FUND
Geographic Variation in Health System Performance: Findings from
The Commonwealth Fund’s
2009 State Scorecard
Stuart Guterman
Vice President and
Director, Program on Payment System Reform
The Commonwealth Fund
American Hospital Association
Taskforce on Variation in Health Care Spending
Washington, DC
November 10, 2009

3. Access

8. Treatment and Prevention

13. Avoidable Hospital Use and Costs

17. Equity

22. Healthy Lives

24. Correlations Among Measures

28. Implications Erosion of insurance coverage puts pressure on all states
Wide variations across areas indicate potential for improvement
Areas with poor performance may not have the resources to improve on their own
But health care does, indeed, seem to be local—and the solutions to the problems our health care system faces also must be implemented to fit the local environment

29. Acknowledgements Heather Drake, Program Associate,
Program on Payment System Reform
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