Benchmarks
2015 America’s Health Rankings® Report Released – Maine rank rises to 15th in the Nation!
Maine’s national health ranking rose five spots in 2015, in part driven by significant improvements in childhood vaccination rates. The 2015 edition of America’s Health Rankings® (AHR), an annual comprehensive assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis, shows Maine’s overall ranking rising from the 20th healthiest state in 2014 to the 15th in 2015. For 26 years, AHR has evaluated a historical and comprehensive set of health, environmental and socioeconomic data to determine national health benchmarks and state rankings.
For more detailed information, visit the America’s Health Rankings website.
2015 report highlights for Maine:
- The percent of Maine children aged 19 to 35 months who were up-to-date on seven immunizations increased from 68.0 percent to 84.7 percent. An encouraging outcome of these efforts is that Maine’s rate of pertussis decreased from 55 to 25 cases per 100,000.
- Maine is making some gains in its efforts to reduce obesity. While the percent of obese adults nationwide rose to 30 percent, Maine’s rate remained steady at 28 percent. Having no increase is the first step toward the ultimate goal of reducing the percent of Mainers with obesity. An important indicator toward this goal is that fewer adults in Maine (20 percent) reported that they were physically inactive.
- Maine has the 12th lowest rate for cardiovascular mortality, at 219 deaths per 100,000. Maine’s rate has decreased since 1990, when the rate stood at 408 deaths per 100,000.
- While Maine has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the country, poverty remains a key concern influencing public health. Poverty has a direct impact on access to health care, educational opportunities, and other basic needs.
- A concerning recent trend in Maine is that infant mortality rates have increased while the nation’s overall rates have decreased. Maine’s infant mortality rates have risen from 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008-2009 to 7.0 in 2012-2013.
See table below for a full summary of Maine rank and rates from 2014 to 2015.
Benchmarks Overview
MaineHealth’s Health Index builds upon two nationally recognized frameworks for assessing health status. The first is America’s Health Rankings®, an annual report produced by the United Health Foundation that benchmarks every state in the U.S. It is considered by many to be the “gold standard” of state health status rankings because of its longevity and highly regarded scientific approach. Both health determinants and health outcomes are measured through America’s Health Rankings® The County Health Rankings© project is the other widely recognized national resource that informs the Health Index. This web-based tool, compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, uses two sets of measures to compare and rank counties within each of the 50 states. The measures are similar to those used in America’s Health Rankings®, but they have more relevance to local decision makers. Like America’s Health Rankings, the County Health Rankings incorporate both health factors (i.e. determinants) and health outcomes into a county’s overall rank. The rankings look at a variety of measures that affect health such as the rate of people dying before age 75, high school graduation rates, unemployment, limited access to health foods, air and water quality, income, and rates of smoking, obesity, and teen births.
The Health Index team chose to use America’s Health Rankings® and County Health Rankings© as benchmarks because both models emphasize the importance of social determinants of health, or the environments in which people are born, grow up, live, work, play and age. From this perspective, health status is not determined just by our behaviors or our individual predisposition to disease – it also depends on the environment and the community in which we live, the clinical care we receive, and the policies and practices of our health care and prevention systems. A person’s environment is an integrated part of the multi-sector approach that is needed to improve any aspect of health.
America’s Health Rankings®
America’s Health Rankings uses 24 total measures to develop one comprehensive view of a state’s overall health. Those measures are separated into two types – determinants (e.g. personal health behaviors, community and environment we live in, etc.) represent those actions that can affect the future health of the population, whereas outcomes represent what has already occurred, either through death, disease or missed days due to illness. The unique methodology used by America’s Health Rankings was originally developed, and is now periodically reviewed, by a group of public health experts. The rankings incorporate a variety of factors, such as smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, high school graduation rates, children in poverty, access to care, and incidence of preventable disease, into a state’s overall rank. The data is retrieved from U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Commerce, Education, Justice, and Labor; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Census Bureau; the American Medical Association; the Dartmouth Atlas Project; and the Trust for America’s Health. For more detailed information, visit the America’s Health Rankings website.
County Health Rankings©
The County Health Rankings also serve as a call to action for employers, health care providers, government, schools, and others to work together. The Rankings are a part of the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Program. Many communities are taking information from the County Health Rankings and using the Roadmaps to build connections with local and national partners to improve health. The Rankings have been used to garner support for local health improvement initiatives among government agencies, healthcare providers, community organizations, business leaders, policymakers, and the public.
For more detailed information on your county, go to the County Health Rankings website.