A new, nationwide survey conducted by AMF Media Group, in partnership with Armanino, leaders in healthcare consulting needs, and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the nation's largest association focused on the business of medical practice management, reveals telling insights into the growing dichotomy of American’s trust in healthcare, where and why it breaks down, and how it can be rebuilt.
Based on responses from 2,400 adults across diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, the full report: Fixing the Fracture: Rebuilding Patient Trust, sheds light on the primary drivers of distrust, with an important focus on often-overlooked trust gaps tied to race, and access.
“While national trust in the U.S. healthcare system continues to erode, the ‘bedside caregiver’ is the most credible messenger—doctors, nurses, and other frontline staff,” says Andrew Swanson, Chief Revenue Officer at MGMA. “Improving trust in our system cannot solely rest on the shoulders of healthcare employees. Now we have firsthand data from patients themselves telling our industry what matters most, it’s an invaluable perspective that can lead to change.”
Trust Levels Are Not Universal
When asked what has weakened trust over the past five years, the influence of insurance companies (25%), pharmaceutical firms (17%) and government involvement (17%) are the major drivers that erode trust. Interestingly, COVID-19 (8%) and vaccine effectiveness (6%) ranked low, despite the mainstream, widespread attention.
However, racial differences emerged:
- Among African Americans, a history of harmful behaviors on the part of the medical profession (21%) (consider the Tuskegee, Sims studies) and mistakes by medical practitioners (19%) were cited as events that weakened trust the most.
- Hispanics reported the greatest drop in trust overall, with government influence being the largest factor (22%).
- Whites cited the influence of insurance companies (29%) far higher than Hispanics (20%) and African Americans (16%).
What Builds Trust? Perception of Caring and Cultural Competency
Across all demographics, Americans place the most trust and highest satisfaction in providers who are honest (23%), listen well (19%), show genuine care (17%), and clearly explain outcomes (14%). 70% of respondents said improvements in these factors substantially increase their trust in healthcare. Cost, billing process, wait times and insurance coverage ranked lowest in terms of satisfaction.
Cultural relatability is especially important to African Americans (33% says it greatly increases trust) and Hispanic respondents, as well as language/interpretive services. 18% of Hispanic patients felt their provider did not care about them personally, the highest overall.
Accessibility, Varying Services Matters
Local infrastructure adds another layer that can contribute to trust. While two-thirds feel hospitals and urgent care centers are accessible, only 53% of respondents felt there are adequate resources for primary care physicians, with 30% reporting a “minor” shortage and 17% saying a “major” shortage. For specialty facilities, only 50% reported adequate specialty facilities. A majority of Hispanics (54%) felt there was a shortage of specialty healthcare in their communities.
The greatest perceived shortage was among behavioral or mental healthcare facilities with only 37% thinking there were adequate facilities and 63% perceiving a minor (32%) or major shortage (31%). The top cited concern of African Americans is a lack of available/accessible healthcare (13%) alongside hospital costs.
“Just as a doctor looks at a patient’s holistic diagnostics, we must do the same for our industry,” says Joe Denneny, Research Director at AMF. “This survey fills a critical gap in understanding the lived experiences of patients. We designed this research to give healthcare systems the insights they need to realign services, improve communication, and rebuild credibility, especially with the patients they risk leaving behind.”
To explore the survey findings and practical next steps, AMF Media Group, Armanino, and MGMA are hosting a series of dynamic in-person events in major metro areas, beginning April 29th, hitting major metro areas over the next several weeks. Designed for healthcare professionals and executives, these events offer an opportunity to discuss the results and gain actionable strategies to enhance practice performance and patient satisfaction. Learn more here.
About AMF
AMF Media Group is a full-service marketing agency that delivers a comprehensive and clear approach on brand strategy and marketing, public relations, crisis communications, internal communications, multimedia production, web design and development, and event planning and management. AMF has offices in the SF Bay Area, Dallas, Los Angeles and Vancouver, Canada. To learn more, visit www.amfmediagroup.com.
About MGMA
Founded in 1926, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is the nation's largest association focused on the business of medical practice management. MGMA consists of 15,000 group medical practices ranging from small private medical practices to large national health systems representing more than 350,000 physicians. MGMA helps nearly 60,000 medical practice leaders and the healthcare community solve the business challenges of running practices so that they can focus on providing outstanding patient care. Specifically, MGMA helps its members innovate and improve profitability and financial sustainability, and it provides the gold standard on industry benchmarks such as physician compensation. The association also advocates extensively on its members' behalf on national regulatory and policy issues.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250429240619/en/
Contacts
Media
Trevor Davis, Gregory FCA
215-475-5931
Trevor@gregoryfca.com