Chris Mullins
by Christopher J. Mullins, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic
The year 1990 marked the release of the very first America’s Health Rankings report – when we first learned where Virginia ranks relative to every other state in overall health and wellness. As UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in the Mid-Atlantic region, I always look forward to this annual report because it provides an overview of where we stand in health compared with our peer states. As they say, we can’t improve what we don’t measure. That’s as true for health as it is for anything else.
The special 25th anniversary report provides a reflection of Virginia’s health that is at once sobering and encouraging. Areas of the public health such as infant mortality rate, cardiovascular deaths and preventable hospitalizations have steadily decreased since the report launched in 25 years ago. Binge drinking, infectious disease and smoking are down across the nation – especially here in Virginia. But there is still more work to be done...