Hospitals assume broad social roles in their communities as major health service institutions, large employers, and in some cases as philanthropic organizations. These roles create perceptions about the community commitment of hospitals to a local community. How these perceptions toward hospitals influence patients' decisions in choosing a hospital for care and trust in the health care system more generally has not been explored. As part of a study examining distrust in health care, we conducted a survey of African American and white non-Latino adults in metropolitan areas. We found that patients with very favorable views about the community commitment of their local hospital were more likely to choose that hospital for major surgery and less likely to report high health care system distrust.
Keywords: community benefit; health policy; hospital economics; nonprofit organizations; trust.
© The Author(s) 2014.