Health report card: mixed marks for Utah

Utah's one of only eight states rated "strong" on overall health measures, including access, quality and patient safety. But it lags national averages in some key areas, including immunization rates, access to care for children with chronic health problems and cancer screenings, among others.

Each year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality publishes its comparison. This year, Utah shared its "strong" designation with Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Wisconsin. No state earned the "very strong" rating.

Utah compared very favorably in terms of hospital and home health-care measures. It also ranked well in terms of patients safety in the area of obstetric injuries. The state was cited for residents' cost-saving measures in using generic drugs. And the Utah median charge for hospital admission — $6,416 — is well below even some of its neighbors, including Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.

That's the good news. There's plenty of bad, as well.

The Utah Department of Health summarized the national study in its own report, "Challenges in Utah's Health Care," which is produced biennially to help policymakers identify what's getting worse, what's getting better and what's stable. It found lots of room for improvement, noting that while Utah is classed as strong, it "nearly borders on 'average.'"

The report says that seven of 16 health-care measures "are trending in the wrong direction and need improvement." Utah's well below national rates for cervical, colorectal and breast cancer screening. The numbers are even lower in terms of women being tested for chlamydia.

We don't do a very good job of getting children to their well-doctor visits. And we do even worse for adolescents.

It says Utah's number of uninsured is going up, patient satisfaction with care for children with chronic conditions is going down and the growth rate in health-care expenditures is higher than national averages.

"This report is welcome because it's humbling," said Dr. David Sundwall, state health director. "We have plenty to do."

Sundwall said he was pleased that Utah moved from above average to strong. But he said he's at a loss to understand why Utah does so poorly in terms of immunizations and screenings.

"We don't take advantage of screening even if it's free or reduced-cost," he said.