Nearly all Americans believe that doctors should be required to share information with their patients about their medical training and experience performing surgery. Eight in ten Americans believe that patients should know about the number of times a physician has performed a procedure, and about his or her affiliations with health care organizations. Support for an agreement slips dramatically if it means consumers pay higher costs for insurance or health services. The public today is less confident about the quality of hospital care than they were two decades ago. Nearly 48 million Americans believe that the quality of care is worse today than it was ten years ago.
Skepticism is more common among women than men.
Most Americans believe that they have a fundamental right to clear and timely information about their care, but 22 million Americans feel that this didn't happen when they or someone close to them were hospitalized. Hospital patients often feel excluded from decisions that are made about their care. Forty-two million Americans say that they or someone close to them were not given the opportunity to participate in decisions about treatment options. More than 29 million Americans say that they or someone close to them did not have a chance to discuss the risks and benefits of treatments. When hospitalized, Americans expect to know who is caring for them and the person's position in the hospital.