State Health Policy

Across the nation, states face the common challenges of expanding health coverage, improving the quality of care, and controlling costs. Many states are developing and implementing reforms to address these issues, offering a nationwide laboratory of experimentation.

What's New in State Health Policy

New State Health Care Scorecard: Sharp Differences in Access, Quality, Avoidable Hospitalizations, and Cost Across U.S.

The cost and quality of health care, as well as access to care and health outcomes, continue to vary widely among states, according to the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System's second state scorecard report. The states that led in the first state scorecard, released in 2007, generally continued to lead, often setting new benchmarks and widening the gap between leading and lagging states.

View all »Publications

Promoting Health Reform Through State Insurance Regulation

November 6, 2009

Revisiting Hospital Rate-Setting

October 27, 2009

View all »Innovations

Parkwest Medical Center: Focusing on Patient and Staff Satisfaction

May 26, 2009

Idaho's Plans to Improve Access in Troubled Times

April 21, 2009

View all »Surveys & Data

The Commonwealth Fund/"Modern Healthcare" Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey: Assessing SCHIP

April 23, 2007

The Commonwealth Fund Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey: Assessing Health Care Experts' Views on Medicaid and Its Future

October 6, 2005

State Data Center

Interactive U.S. Map Offers State Rankings and Results

Visit an interactive map to view state-specific rankings and results compared to benchmarks, and to view the number of lives and dollars each state could save by achieving benchmark levels of performance. You can also compare states and generate custom tables and bar charts.