Where New Mexico Stands in Health Care Rankings 2016-2017

Excerpted from Medscape

United Health Foundation annually ranks health care quality in each state based on a large amount of criteria, including:

• Behaviors (such as smoking, physical inactivity, and high school graduation)

• Community & Environment (such as air pollution, violent crime, and infection diseases)

• Policy (such as immunization rates and public health funding)

• Clinical Care (such as amount of dentists and primary care physicians per capita, and preventable hospitalizations)

• Outcomes (such as infant mortality, deaths from certain diseases, and frequent physical or mental distress)

In 2016, UHF ranked New Mexico 38th in overall health care quality. Notable rankings in individual categories include:

• 50th in Children in Poverty

• 50th in High School Graduation

• 49th in Drug Deaths

• 48th in Violent Crime

• 41st in Lack of Health Insurance4

To read more about these rankings, click here to go to UHF’s website on New Mexico rankings.

According to Leigh Page, freelance health care writer for Medscape, New Mexico ranks as the “Fourth Worst State to Practice Medicine in 2017.”

State Profile: New Mexico is a beautiful state with warm weather and plenty of diversity, but it has been rated the eighth least livable, the 11th least happy, and the second least family-friendly state. Violence is a big problem. It is ranked as the third least safe state, with the third highest violent crime rate. On the plus side, it ranks as the 20th best stat for well being.

Problems for Doctors: The state has the eighth lowest rate of insurance coverage, the lowest rate of employer-sponsored insurance, the 14th unhealthiest population in the country, and the fourth lowest hospital patient satisfaction rate. New Mexico has the lowest ratio of primary care physicians to population.

Permalink: Medscape