Thread by @Avik

THREAD: You've probably heard of that 2000 @WHO study ranking health care systems in 191 countries. In it, the U.S. placed 37th, behind Oman (8), Colombia (22), Saudi Arabia (26), Morocco (29), and Costa Rica (36). It's frequently cited as to why the U.S. should go single-payer.

Well, this week @FREOPP is premiering the World Index of Healthcare Innovation, our answer to the @WHO rankings. We rank 31 high-income countries, and not just on universal coverage, but also science & technology, patient choice, and health outcomes. freopp.org/wihi/home

The @FREOPP World Index of Healthcare Innovation is in fact the first comparison of national health care systems to explicitly take science & technology and patient choice into account in its rankings. It should go without saying that these are important. freopp.org/wihi2020-505b1…

Overall, the U.S. ranked 4th in the @FREOPP World Index of Healthcare Innovation, behind Switzerland (1), Germany (2), and the Netherlands (3). The top 3 all have universal coverage through private insurance. The top single-payer country was Taiwan at #10. freopp.org/key-findings-f…

The bottom 3 countries in the @FREOPP World Index of Healthcare Innovation were Japan (31), Poland (30), and Italy (29). Japan struggles with very poor Fiscal Sustainability; Poland is last on Science & Technology and Quality; Italy was 30th on choice. freopp.org/key-findings-f…

For more on the dimensions, elements & measures we used to calculate each country's rankings in the @FREOPP World Index of Healthcare Innovation, click here: freopp.org/how-we-compile… #WIHI

In the @FREOPP World Index of Healthcare Innovation, you'll see that while the U.S. ranks 4th overall, it ranks second-to-last in Fiscal Sustainability. The U.S. made up for that by being #1 in both Choice and Science & Technology. (Germany is #1 for Fiscal Sustainability.) #WIHI

What's the best way to rate how countries have responded to #COVID19? For the @FREOPP World Index of Healthcare Innovation, we looked at 3 measures: (1) deaths per million; (2) stringency of lockdowns; (3) global integration/isolation pre-pandemic. #WIHI freopp.org/measuring-covi…

The full methodology for the pandemic rankings is in the #WIHI article: freopp.org/measuring-covi…. For those who think that integration/isolation is irrelevant, we've also posted a version of the analysis that only looks at mortality and lockdown stringency.

But we think that global integration/isolation matters a lot, in terms of a country's susceptibility to seeding a pandemic. One challenge was finding a good measure. We used travel and tourism volume by country, as that data is readily available. #WIHI

It may surprise some U.S. readers to learn that 9 European countries are at the same or worse #COVID19 mortality rate as the U.S: Netherlands, Ireland, France, Sweden, Italy, Spain, UK, & Belgium. Despite, in most cases, lockdowns far more severe than ours. #WIHI

New @FREOPP: Our World Index of Healthcare Innovation article on #COVID19 pandemic responses in the 31 #WIHI-ranked countries now includes a chart plotting the 7-day moving average of COVID deaths per 100 million residents. freopp.org/measuring-covi…

Most versions of this chart (the 7-day moving average of COVID deaths) don't adjust for population. Ours does, which brings out how much worse the pandemic has been in Belgium, Spain, France, & Italy, among others. On the flip side, the U.S. curve is taking longer to decline.