Things aren't looking any better for the United States healthcare system since the last time it was compared with those of other industrialized nations.
An update to an ongoing study of nations' performances in several areas of healthcare released Tuesday again has ranked the United States dead last among Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada.
This poor performance is exacerbated by the fact that the United States still has the most costly healthcare system in the world.
Research for the Commonwealth Fund report, entitled, "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care," previously was conducted in 2006 and 2004. The study looked at nations' healthcare quality, access, efficiency, equity, outcomes, healthy lifestyles, implementations of information technology, and coordination of care.
While all of the nations involved in the report could improve their healthcare systems, the report said, the other nations spend considerably less than the United States on healthcare per capita and as a percent of their gross domestic products.
"Most troubling, the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in earlier editions, the U.S. is last on dimensions of access, patient safety, efficiency and equity," the authors noted. Most of the information in the report was drawn from surveys of the nations' patients and primary care physicians.
"These findings indicate that, from the perspective of both physicians and patients, the U.S. healthcare system could do much better in achieving better value for the nation's substantial investment in health," the report said.
The absence of universal healthcare coverage is the most notable difference between the United States and the other nations, according to the report. In the absence of universal coverage, U.S. residents are most likely to waive care because of costs. Additionally, more than two-fifths of lower-income Americans reportedly avoided needed care in the past year because of financial concerns.
Preventive care is the only area in which the United States is ahead of the other nations, the report found. Americans with health insurance tend to have rapid access to non-emergency and specialized healthcare.
The authors concluded that the United States could learn from innovations in other countries, such as increased public reporting of quality care data and payment structures that reward high-quality care.