A National Pre-Pandemic Survey of Patient-Reported Health Confidence and Implications for Post-Pandemic Practice

Patient-reported health confidence is a valuable indicator of effective patient-clinician communication, which improves outcomes and reduces costly care use. This national survey examines health confidence attainment in the United States before the COVID pandemic strained health care resources. Health confidence was low for both the percentage of respondents who were financially secure (36%) and financially insecure (18%). Persons enrolled in employer- and union-sponsored plans, who had the highest household income, did not report higher levels of health confidence. Health policy should support the measurement and monitoring of health confidence in clinical practice to improve population health and maximize resource efficiency.