title: Perceived community commitment of hospitals: an exploratory analysis of its potential influence on hospital choice and health care system distrust.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania dgrande@wharton.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grande
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Judy A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Shea
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002755:Choice Behavior; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D035502:Trust; D014505:Urban Population; D044465:White People
keywords: community benefit; health policy; hospital economics; nonprofit organizations; trust