America's Essential Hospitals research project aims to identify dimensions of patient trust in providers

America's Essential Hospitals will undertake a three-phase research project aimed at improving patients' trust in their providers. The goal of the initiative is to build guidelines and policies that hospitals can use to boost patient trust, particularly among the most vulnerable patients. Its research, education, and dissemination arm, Essential Hospitals Institute, will conduct the project, the three phases of which are:

1. Surveying vulnerable patients at essential hospitals to identify key factors that affect this population's overall trust in hospitals and health systems;
2. Making site visits to a diverse set of essential hospitals to interview hospital leadership, conduct patient focus groups, and review relevant hospital policies and practices; and
3. Producing a checklist and detailed guide for building patient trust in hospitals that fill a safety-net role.