Building Trust in Health Care —Why, Where, and How

Trust in US health care has declined precipitously in the past half century. In 1966, 73% of US residents had confidence in medical leaders, whereas in 2012, only 34% did. In a survey of 1009 participants in 2017, only 18% expressed high levels of confidence in the US health system, and in a 2014 survey of 1608 participants, only 31% indicated that they trusted public health officials to share complete and accurate information during disease outbreaks. Recent high-profile events —such as those involving health care companies like Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Johnson& Johnson, and Theranos; vaccine misinformation contributing to the largest US measles outbreak in decades; and well-publicized examples of failure to disclose important conflict of interest information —have also contributed to mistrust and reduced confidence in health care entities.

Source: JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association - July 15, 2019 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research