In 2021, the ABIM Foundation engaged NORC at the University of Chicago to learn more about public and physician perceptions of trust in the U.S. health system.

The research shows a significant decline in physicians’ trust in health care leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic, notable differences between how physicians and the public perceive trust, and that experiences of discrimination negatively affect trust in U.S. health care. Highlights from the study include:

COVID-19

Fig. 1

GENERAL TRUST

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Fig. 3

PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION

Fig. 5

This research was conducted between Dec. 29, 2020 and Feb. 5, 2021. The physician survey is a non-probability sample of 600 physicians. The consumer survey is a probability-based sample of 2,069 respondents with oversamples for Black, Hispanic and Asian respondents and has a margin of error of +/- 3.15 percentage points.