Ohio Health Policy News

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio has released the latest edition of its biennial Health Value Dashboard, which found that Ohio ranks 44 on heath value compared to other states and D.C. (as displayed in the graphic above).

That means that Ohioans are living less healthy lives and spending more on health care than people in most other states.

The Dashboard is designed for policymakers and other public- and private-sector leaders to examine Ohio’s performance relative to other states, track change over time and identify and explore health disparities and inequities in Ohio. The report also highlights evidence-informed strategies that can be implemented to improve Ohio’s performance.

With more than 100 data metrics, the report can be a valuable tool as Ohio’s leaders continue to develop the state’s biennial budget over the next two months.

In the fifth edition of the Dashboard, HPIO identified three specific areas of strengths on which Ohio can build to create opportunities for improved health value in the state:

• Strengthen Ohio’s workforce: Ohio can build upon recent success in attracting employers in high-growth industries to strengthen the workforce and reduce poverty
• Foster mental well-being: Ohio can build upon expertise with, and community response to, the addiction crisis to become a national leader in behavioral health
• Improve healthcare effectiveness: Ohio can build upon strengths in access to care to reinvigorate approaches to improving outcomes and controlling healthcare spending

Almost three in four East Palestine residents who completed a health assessment after the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment reported experiencing headaches, Gov. Mike DeWine’s office reported last week (Source: “East Palestine update: 74% of residents reported experiencing headaches, according to health surveys,” Cleveland.com, March 3).

Late Friday afternoon, the governor’s office released the results of the survey done by federal, state and local officials. Residents completed an “after chemical exposure” community survey – with 168 questionnaires completed – aimed at providing information on how people may be impacted.

The other most common symptoms among East Palestine residents include anxiety (64%), coughing (61%), fatigue/tiredness (58%) and irritation, pain or burning of skin (52%).

Residents answered the surveys when they visited the East Palestine Health Assessment Clinic, which is run by the Ohio Department of Health and the Columbiana County Health District, as well as during door-to-door visits by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services representatives.

At the conclusion of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, new analysis from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio details the changing demographic trends in suicide deaths in Ohio (as illustrated in the graphic above).

According to data from the Ohio Public Health Data Warehouse, between 2007 and 2021 (the most-recent year in which data is available), suicide deaths increased for both male and female Ohioans, with a greater increase among males. Suicides among Black Ohioans have increased 56% over the past 14 years, compared to a 34% increase for white Ohioans. In terms of age groups, Ohioans ages 25-64 remain the most likely to die by suicide, although rates have increased for all ages since 2007.

Earlier this month, HPIO released a graphic illustrating how, between 2007 and 2021, the rate of suicide deaths in Ohio that involved a firearm increased by more than 50% and how, in 2021, suicides involving a firearm accounted for more than all other methods combined.

Suicide is preventable and the state’s 2020-2022 Suicide Prevention Plan includes evidence-informed strategies that both public- and private-sector leaders can implement to address the issue.

If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, please call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. If you don’t like talking on the phone, consider using the Crisis Text Line at www.crisistextline.org or text “4HOPE” to 741-741.

Firearms are the most common method of suicide in Ohio, according to analysis from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (as illustrated in the graphic above).

Between 2007 and 2021 (the most-recent year in which data is available), the rate of suicide deaths in Ohio that involved a firearm increased by more than 50%. In 2021, suicides involving a firearm accounted for more deaths than all other means combined.

Suicide is preventable and the state’s 2020-2022 Suicide Prevention Plan include evidence-informed strategies that both public- and private-sector leaders can implement to address the issue.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, please call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. If you don’t like talking on the phone, consider using the Crisis Text Line at www.crisistextline.org or text “4HOPE” to 741-741.

As national and state organizations mark September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, data show that while suicide deaths among young Ohioans have risen overall in Ohio over the past two decades, the increase has been sharpest among Black Ohioans.

In 1999, the suicide rates for both white Ohioans and Black Ohioans ages 10 to 24 were the same: 6.8 per 100,000 people. By 2020 (the most recent year for which data is available), the rate for white Ohioans had risen to 11.2 (an increase of 64%) and the rate for Black Ohioans had risen to 12.8 (an increase of 88%).

More-recent national research indicates that the disparity in suicide rates may have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reducing suicide and eliminating disparities are priorities of the Ohio Department of Health’s 2020-2022 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). Public- and private-sector leaders can implement strategies identified in the SHIP and Ohio’s 2020-2022 Suicide Prevention Plan, including suicide fatality review boards, behavioral health integration with primary care and education on safe storage of lethal means (i.e., firearms and medications).

If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, please call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. If you don’t like talking on the phone, consider using the Crisis Text Line at www.crisistextline.org or text “4HOPE” to 741-741.

According to modelling from a Northwestern University researcher, the current rise in opioid deaths is not expected to slow anytime soon, and, in fact, may be a warning for one of the largest death waves due to opioids the country has seen to date, with Ohio potentially on the frontline once again (Source: “Model suggests coming wave of opioid deaths bigger than seen before,” Cleveland.com, Aug. 29).

Those who study opioid addiction refer to overdose deaths as coming in waves. And according to research published at the end of July, we may be headed for a tsunami.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, Ohio ranked fourth in the rate of drug overdose mortality in 2020; 75% of those deaths were due to opioid overdose, the CDC found. The overwhelming majority of those — 82% — are synthetic opioids manufactured illicitly, rather than prescription drugs being re-sold on the street.

Lori Ann Post, who studies opioid abuse trends at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said the goal of modeling is to get out in front of the problem because by the time all the toxicology reports come back and the data is input into the CDC databases, policymakers are a year behind; it’s too late by then to make the policy changes that are needed.

HPIO created the Addiction Evidence Project to provide policymakers and other stakeholders with the information needed to evaluate Ohio’s policy response to the opiate crisis and accelerate and continually improve strategies to address substance use disorders in a comprehensive, effective and efficient way.

Ohio saw a slight dip in its infant mortality rate in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new 2020 data released by the Ohio Department of Health (Source: “State report: Ohio infant mortality rate 'lowest it has been in past decade',” Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 19).

According to the ODH report, there were 6.7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020, down from 6.9 the year prior. Black infants specifically saw a bigger decrease in that time frame, from 14.3 deaths per 1,000 births to 13.6, which is 2.7 times the rate of white infants. In total, 864 infants died before their first birthday in 2020.

The new infant mortality rate is "the lowest it has been in the past decade," according to the report, but it's still far above from the 2028 target of 6 or fewer deaths per 1,000 births for every racial group that was set out in the 2020-2022 State Health Improvement Plan.

"Racial and socio-economic inequities persist," the report acknowledged. "The infant mortality rate not only serves as a key indicator of maternal and infant health but is also an important measure of the health status of a community."

The Ohio Department of Health launched a monkeypox data dashboard Thursday, showing cases statewide and per county, and by age ranges, sex, hospitalizations, deaths and other information (Source: “Ohio Department of Health launches new monkeypox data dashboard and interactive map showing locations of all 147 cases,” Cleveland.com, Aug. 25).

ODH plans to update the dashboard each Thursday. Currently, there have been 147 confirmed cases across 19 counties. Cuyahoga County, with 69 cases, has the most, followed by Franklin County, which counts 33 cases. 

Just nine people have been hospitalized and no one has died with monkeypox in Ohio thus far.

The state’s first monkeypox case was reported June 13. Cases have increased in Ohio and across the country in the past few weeks.

New federal data released last week found life expectancy in Ohio is worse than 41 other states and is the lowest-ranked of the top 10 most populated U.S. states (Source: “Ohio's life expectancy among the worst in U.S.,” Axios-Columbus, Feb 17).

The average life expectancy at birth in Ohio is 76.9, according to 2019 state-by-state data released by the CDC last week. That is down about a full year since 2010. Ohio joins neighbors Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia in the low CDC rankings, along with most southeastern states.

The findings are consistent with those in HPIO’s 2021 Health Value Dashboard, which ranked Ohio 47th on health value, a composite measure of population health and health care spending. The Dashboard identified three key factors for Ohio’s low ranking: childhood adversity and trauma, systemic inequities and sparse spending on public health and prevention efforts.

COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases are continuing to decrease in Ohio after the record-setting omicron variant peaked in January (Source: “Ohio’s COVID hospitalizations, cases continue to decline but remain high,” Dayton Daily News, Feb. 10).

In the past three weeks, Ohio’s seen the number of COVID patients in the state’s hospitals and ICUs decrease by 50%.

“While I think we can all be very encouraged by the improving trends we’re seeing all across the state, let’s remember that our numbers in Ohio are really still quite high and we need to be careful not to let our guard down too soon,” said ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff.

Despite the decrease in coronavirus cases, Ohio’s transmission rate is still nearly five times higher than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of a high transmission rate. In the past two weeks, Ohio is averaging 481 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people. The CDC defines a high transmission rate as 100 cases or more per 100,000 people. None of the state’s 88 counties reported fewer than 100 COVID cases per 100,000 people.