The newly created Healthcare Access and Quality Index shows how well countries use their healthcare systems to stop preventable deaths. Access to quality healthcare, the study shows definitively, is often the difference between life or death. “What we have found about health care access and quality is disturbing,” said Dr Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and senior author of the study, published in The Lancet. “America’s ranking is an embarrassment, especially considering the US spends more than $9,000 per person on health care annually, more than any other country,” Dr Murray said. The researchers then adjusted their analysis to account for variations in death rates not easily attributable to lack of personal healthcare, and measures of personal healthcare access and quality.

Source: Bangkok Post May 19, 2017 08:37 UTC