The smart people at Economist Intelligence Unit have done it again, working with GEHealthcare to create an interactive, analytics tool for evaluating the difficult choices in healthcare and policy. At GE.com/healthofnations a set of disease patterns, demographic data and financial constraints are just a few factors that impact the health of a country’s people. A nifty data visualization and mapping screen shows you just how the 50 countries perform, across a range of 21 different categories.
Color-coded sets of inputs, outcomes and risks — from smoking patterns to average water safety — are evaluated for each country and then a cumulative score is easy to interpret at http://www.healthofnations.com/ratings This is a tremendous example of analytics at work: simplifying a complex set of data for quick understanding, even by people with no background in health policy. Video and commentary are available to explain further details or gather feedback from visitors.
Just as past decisions come back to haunt companies, the site explains how analyzing mistakes in spending — or not using healthcare resources — can have long-term repercussions that affect people for years. The Health of Nations index ranks more than just average earnings and spending patterns on health services — the tools also explore the effectiveness of policies and priorities using yardsticks such as lifespan, or average results.
If we’re going to make changes in U.S. healthcare and insurance programs it’s important to know how other countries compare and the results of new priorities and spending. Other than a lower monthly insurance premium do you have other expectations? Or would you rather be covered under a different country’s healthcare scheme? Here’s a superb way to learn more.
