Wisconsin ranked No. 1 in health care quality based on 129 performance measures, according to an annual report released Monday by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Orlando Sentinel reports (Wessel, Orlando Sentinel, 6/12). The report -- AHRQ's third annual "State Snapshots" report on the quality of health care in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. -- bases rankings on performance measures, such as foot exams for diabetics, ease of appointments for Medicare beneficiaries, low birth-weight babies, implementation of recommended care for heart attack patients and avoidable hospitalizations for pediatric asthma patients.

The agency has been releasing state information on health care quality for four years, but this is the first year it has compiled and released an overall score for each state (Boulton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/12). The report concluded that overall, states have made "promising gains in health care quality," but "no state is good at everything."

Wisconsin had an overall score of 65.76, while Louisiana was ranked lowest with a score of 29.16. According to the report, nationwide, fewer than three of five Medicare beneficiaries undergoing surgery receive antibiotics at the appropriate time. In addition, the report found that 54% of men older than age 50 in the U.S. have received a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy (Orlando Sentinel, 6/12). The "State Snapshots" tool is available online.

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