Bright Future Rankings

Robert C. Bowman, M.D.

A variety of state data listings were compiled in education, equity, and efficiency areas. Those living in the top ranking states can expect better futures for their children and more of the children in their state. This is associated with greater state efficiency in costs, insurance, health care, and many other areas. The states that fail to invest in education, children, and the future are best categorized as dependent states. Without the dependency on growth and the resources of other states and nations, they are likely to be unable to sustain themselves. Cities are much the same. When they are landlocked by geography or richer suburbs and not allowed to continue to grow, they begin a process of decline, loss of population, and deterioration of conditions and schools.

Bright Future Rankings do not vary much for the top and bottom states. Different choice of variable changes who ranks slightly higher. FP correlations vary by the type of education data reported. States and stats that support higher education and college degrees have negative correlations with FP. Those that support early education and breadth of education distribution and expenditure positively correlate with FP.

Elementary & Secondary - Critical for the lower income, rural, and inner city types that choose FP
Higher Education - States that focus on exclusive higher education do not graduate FP, FPs come from populations with first and second generation to college
Public Assistance - Inefficient states end up paying more in public assistance and prisons, a result of poor investment in education and associated with low levels of FP
Medicaid - FPs are the most likely to care for the poor, Medicaid and state Medicaid expenditures related to FP choice, states having to pay more for Medicaid also have lower high school graduation rates and less to spend on education.
Corrections - Inefficient states end up paying more in public assistance and prisons, a result of poor investment in education and associated with low levels of FP

Correlations with	Overall Score	Overall Rank	Education Score	Education Rank	Equity Score	Equity Rank	Efficiency Score	Efficiency Rank
Family Physician % in a State	-0.670	-0.665	-0.324	-0.312	-0.670	-0.692	-0.617	-0.636
Family Physicians Born in a State	-0.530	-0.534	-0.207	-0.198	-0.560	-0.606	-0.488	-0.517
State Poverty Level	0.329	0.330	0.576	0.568	0.179	0.171	0.229	0.111
State High School Graduation	0.749	0.736	0.768	0.748	0.626	0.609	0.604	0.515
State % in rural areas	-0.684	-0.674	-0.356	-0.353	-0.635	-0.628	-0.649	-0.642
	Lower is Better	Lower is Better	Lower is Better	Lower is Better	Lower is Better	Lower is Better	Lower is Better	Lower is Better
Alabama	549	39	126	46	163	30	260	36
Alaska	473	30	49	10	135	16	289	48
Arizona	570	44	129	47	206	45	235	29
Arkansas	409	19	86	34	116	10	207	23
California	670	50	130	48	241	50	299	38
Colorado	417	22	79	28	190	38	148	12
Connecticut	520	35	43	8	197	41	280	47
Delaware	493	33	59	15	169	32	265	40
Florida	648	49	119	44	235	49	294	41
Georgia	612	46	116	43	205	44	291	46
Hawaii	411	20	79	27	162	29	170	18
Idaho	315	11	68	22	152	22	95	4
Illinois	554	40	92	37	189	37	273	39
Indiana	325	12	66	20	120	11	139	17
Iowa	209	3	34	5	46	1	129	11
Kansas	259	9	33	3	98	7	128	8
Kentucky	441	24	90	36	121	12	230	25
Louisiana	644	48	124	45	204	43	316	45
Maine	326	13	41	6	155	26	130	14
Maryland	534	37	79	29	191	39	264	34
Massachusetts	535	38	69	23	192	40	274	43
Michigan	475	31	62	19	145	19	268	42
Minnesota	234	5	43	7	74	5	117	13
Mississippi	569	42	136	50	153	23	280	35
Missouri	398	18	82	32	146	21	170	19
Montana	257	8	23	2	141	18	93	3
Nebraska	191	1	56	13	64	2	71	5
Nevada	473	29	102	40	132	14	239	30
New Hampshire	383	17	81	31	180	35	122	9
New Jersey	569	43	54	12	201	42	314	49
New Mexico	453	27	94	38	161	28	198	24
New York	635	47	74	25	217	48	344	50
North Carolina	463	28	85	33	186	36	192	21
North Dakota	193	2	59	16	69	4	65	2
Ohio	423	23	51	11	126	13	246	33
Oklahoma	503	34	99	39	135	17	269	31
Oregon	356	15	58	14	161	27	137	10
Pennsylvania	446	25	48	9	146	20	252	37
Rhode Island	560	41	72	24	209	46	279	44
South Carolina	482	32	107	41	154	25	221	27
South Dakota	213	4	59	17	64	3	90	6
Tennessee	522	36	130	49	164	31	228	26
Texas	575	45	111	42	212	47	252	32
Utah	309	10	75	26	170	33	64	1
Vermont	237	6	33	4	107	8	97	7
Virginia	413	21	88	35	154	24	171	20
Washington	447	26	81	30	172	34	194	22
West Virginia	369	16	68	21	80	6	221	28
Wisconsin	256	7	22	1	109	9	125	15
Wyoming	346	14	61	18	134	15	151	16

National Center for Children in Poverty - midwest children poverty up 29% (43% of the increase in child poverty in the nation), greatest rise in families without college education
http://www.nccp.org/media/npr06_text.pdf

The US could adopt UK methods that were stolen from the US in previous eras

Education - links and bibliographies on the pipelines

Underserved - Overview and Models

Physician Workforce Studies

Physician Distribution in the US

Distribution of Physicians