The Phia Group Reveals Research Showing Minnesota, Hawaii And Montana Have The Highest Quality, Lowest Cost Healthcare In The Nation

The Healthcare Cost Containment Firm Exposes the Lack of Transparency in health Care as it Relates to Quality and Cost by State

CANTON, Mass., Jan. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite the fact that the United States spends more on health care than any other developing country, it ranks last for quality health care*. Today The Phia Group , a leading health care cost containment firm, has released The Phia Group Healthcare Index, a state-by-state health care quality and cost analysis, indicating that Minnesota, Hawaii, and Montana had the highest quality, most affordable health care. Conversely, Nevada, South Carolina, and Texas ranked lowest in the country for health care quality and affordability. The states that ranked at the top had high quality health care and lower aggressive billing, whereas, the states that ranked low on the list had more aggressive billing rates. This dynamic clearly highlights the opaque healthcare system across the United States.

"When it comes to the cost of healthcare, there's a terrible misconception that more expensive services correlate with better quality and more optimal outcomes," said Adam V. Russo, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Phia Group. "There may be such a correlation between cost and quality with cars and electronic products, but that is far from the case in healthcare. The reason for this is that unlike every other aspect of our economy, healthcare isn't driven by consumerism. People actually have no idea what anything actually costs as it relates to medical treatment. Many Americans would be surprised to learn that there's actually quite a bit of information available – if you know how to access it – that indicates how quality and pricing metrics align. Unfortunately, the general public can find more information about the quality and price of a toothpick than the quality and price of the open-heart surgery they just scheduled."

The Phia Group believes that engaged consumerism as well as pricing and quality transparency are all critical to lowering overall health care costs and ensuring higher quality outcomes, which is what they aim to do for their employees and clients. "The price charged for a normal delivery of a baby should not range from $10,000 to $60,000 in any given market," continues Russo. "But since no actual patient is paying the entire bill, the transparency is lost, and patients only look at what their co-pays and deductibles are – not the entire price. Hence, we get more expensive healthcare every year."

The Phia Group Healthcare Index research was conducted using publicly available data to then rank each state from best to worst as it relates to their health care quality and cost. The following states ranked the top ten: