Abstract
Medicare and Medicaid created the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey to capture hospital care information from the patient’s perspective. Patient satisfaction scores are tied to hospital reimbursement. HCAHPS doesn’t evaluate if patients trust their provider. We asked this question along with when and why patient-provider trust was established. 152 (95.6%) of the 159 patients interviewed trusted their medical provider, only seven (4.4%) did not. It is of utmost importance for providers to make a good impression during their initial patient encounter, as 85.5% of patients said trust was developed at their first interaction. A combination of communication skills and time spent ranked highest on patient’s reasoning for why patient-provider trust was or was not developed. This study highlights the need for all medical practitioners to enhance their ability to communicate effectively in order to better influence a patient’s satisfaction and positive perception of their care.