The lack of trust in our healthcare system brings ominous results, from decreasing health outcomes to increasing costs, from organization inefficiencies to a pervasive pattern of litigation. This will only worsen as healthcare becomes subject to greater market mechanisms, and as patients, providers, and payers view each other with increasing suspicion. Healthcare professionals are just now coming to realize what other professionals have known for years: trust is earned, not assumed. The Trust Crisis represents the first comprehensive survey of the causes and consequences of declining trust in...

The United States health care system is broken. Critics and commentators point to the staggering costs of health care, the shrinking insurance coverage, and the diminishing access that many U.S. citizens have to essential services and treatments. These problems are compounded by a growing realization that the quality of care across the country is uneven at best, with the goal of finding the appropriate kind and level of care proving elusive. High Stakes enters into the health care debates at a critical time, offering an analysis that homes in on factors that account for many of the...