For More Information, Contact:

Janet Firshein or Joe Sutherland at 301/652-1558

FOR RELEASE WITH A.M. PAPERS ON

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004

NATIONAL REPORT PRAISES NEW HAMPSHIRE FOR

SUCCESS IN CHILDREN’S HEALTH

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 30, 2004) – An assessment of health care in the 50 states, released here today, praises New Hampshire for its commitment to children’s health. The report appears in the February 2004 issue of Governing magazine.

“New Hampshire isn’t known for the generosity of its public services, but it’s made children’s health a priority,” said Katherine Barrett, co-author of the report. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the state has the lowest infant mortality rate in the country. It also had the second-lowest percentage of pre-term births in 2002 and the fifth best record for low-birthweight babies.

New Hampshire does well in a variety of indicators. It had a higher percentage of women receiving prenatal care in their first trimester than any state except Rhode Island, and it was successful in getting children immunized as well. Like many other states, it does have a problem in providing good access to dental care for its Medicaid population.

Governing’s analysis of state-funded health care is part of the Government Performance Project, a six-year-old effort, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, to evaluate a wide range of state government management and policy functions. This year’s special report focuses on six critical health care problems facing states: long-term care, public health, mental health, prescription drugs, access to care for the uninsured, and care for children.

The Government Performance Project found and documented the inability of the 50 states’ health care system to deliver improvements in medicine fairly and consistently to many of their citizens. Health care in most states is not just inadequate, the study concluded--it’s deteriorating. “After exhaustive analysis and hundreds of interviews,” says Peter Harkness, Governing’s publisher and editor, “it became clear that there is a health care crisis in America. But it is in no way a medical crisis. It is a fiscal crisis.”

Governing is a policy and management magazine aimed at high-level state and local government officials. An online version of this report will be available at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/intro.htm as of January 29. Press releases for each of the 50 states can be found at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/press.htm.

###