| Course | MHA 598 Using Results to Build Brand in the Health Sector (MHA/598) |
|---|---|
| Week | 3 |
| Paper type | Brand emotional connection paper |
| Length | about 1,150 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MHA |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for MHA 598 Week 3
Trust Is the Brand: Rebuilding an Emotional Connection With Patients After Trust in Hospitals Fell From 71.5% to 40.1%
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
MHA/598: Using Results to Build Brand in the Health Sector
Week 3 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The health system, its community surveys, programs and results are composites written for a model paper; national figures and research findings come from the sources cited.
At a meeting with faith leaders in a rural county served by one of the composite Knoxville system's hospitals, a Baptist pastor told the vice president of strategy something she had not heard in focus groups: many of his congregation no longer trusted the hospital. They went elsewhere, delayed care or did not go at all. He said it plainly: they don't think you're telling them the truth. This paper examines what an emotional connection with patients means for a health system's brand and how to rebuild it.
What Emotional Connection Means in Health Care
In consumer branding, emotional connection often means affection or loyalty. In health care, the deepest emotional bond is trust: the belief that the organization will be honest, competent and on the patient's side when the patient is most vulnerable. People can like a hospital's advertising and still not trust it with their child.
Trust Has Fallen
National evidence shows the scale of the problem. A survey of adults in all 50 states, with more than 580,000 responses over 24 waves, found that the share reporting a lot of trust in physicians and hospitals fell from 71.5% in April 2020 to 40.1% in January 2024 (Perlis et al., 2024).
Who Trusts Least
The same survey found that lower trust in 2023 was associated with being 25 to 64 years old, female gender, lower education and income, Black race and rural residence, and these associations persisted after accounting for partisanship. Greater trust was associated with higher likelihood of vaccination against COVID-19 and influenza (Perlis et al., 2024). Trust fell furthest among the people health systems most need to reach.
Why Trust Matters for Health
Trust is not only a brand asset. A meta-analysis of studies on trust in health care professionals found a small to moderate correlation between trust and health outcomes, strongest for self-rated outcomes, and found that patients with more trust reported more beneficial health behaviors, fewer symptoms, higher quality of life and greater satisfaction (Birkhäuer et al., 2017).
The System's Own Evidence
The system surveyed 1,200 residents across its service area. In urban Knox County, 52% said they trusted the system a lot; in the four rural counties, 31% did. Rural residents cited past experiences: long waits, feeling rushed, bills they did not understand and a sense that decisions were made far away.
What Broke Trust Locally
Interviews revealed specific events. The closure of the rural hospital's obstetrics unit three years earlier, announced with little community discussion, was mentioned repeatedly. So were collection lawsuits against patients for unpaid bills, which the system had filed routinely until recently.
Trust Is Earned by Behavior
Advertising cannot restore trust that behavior destroyed. The vice president argued that emotional connection would come from being known, being told the truth and being treated with respect, repeatedly and visibly.
Strategy One: Tell the Truth, Especially After Errors
Honesty after harm is the hardest test of trust, and leaders often fear it will invite lawsuits. The experience of a Michigan university health system suggests otherwise: once it began admitting errors to patients, apologizing and paying fairly when care fell short, its claims, lawsuits and legal costs all declined over the following years, although an observational design leaves room for other explanations (Kachalia et al., 2010). The system adopted a disclosure-and-apology program across all three hospitals.
Strategy Two: Stop Suing Patients
The system ended collection lawsuits against patients, expanded financial assistance and simplified bills. The chief executive announced the change at a community meeting in the rural county where the lawsuits had been most resented.
Strategy Three: Be Present Locally
Trust grows through presence. The system placed community health workers from the rural counties in each hospital, held quarterly community forums with executives present and sponsored health screenings at churches, schools and county fairs, staffed by local clinicians.
Strategy Four: Share Decisions
The system created community advisory councils for each rural hospital, with authority to review service changes before they are decided. Any future service closure will require community consultation and a transition plan.
Strategy Five: Work Through Trusted Messengers
The pastor and other faith leaders, local physicians and community health workers are more trusted than any system spokesperson. The system asked them what messages and actions would matter and invited them to hold the system accountable.
Listening Before Acting
The vice president spent two months in the rural counties before proposing anything. She attended church suppers, a volunteer fire department meeting and a county commission session, and asked people what the hospital had done well and badly. Several people said no executive had ever asked them before. Listening itself began to rebuild trust, and it produced the priorities the strategies address.
Clinicians as the Face of the Brand
Patients' trust attaches most to the clinicians they see. The system invested in communication training for its rural physicians and nurses, focusing on explaining plans plainly, asking about patients' concerns and admitting uncertainty. Clinicians from the communities themselves were recruited through a rural training track with a regional medical school.
Billing as a Trust Issue
Few experiences erode trust faster than a confusing or aggressive bill. Beyond ending lawsuits, the system redesigned bills in plain language, offered estimates before scheduled care and trained financial counselors to call patients before bills went to collection. Financial assistance applications were simplified to one page.
Keeping Promises Small and Kept
The vice president advised making only promises the system could keep, then reporting back publicly on each. A kept small promise builds more trust than an ambitious one that slips.
Early Signs
One year after the changes began, rural residents' trust scores rose from 31% to 36% reporting a lot of trust, a modest gain. Attendance at community forums grew, and the pastor invited the chief executive to speak at his church. Screening events drew more participants each quarter. Trust returns slowly, and the system treats these as early signs rather than proof.
Measuring Trust
The resident trust survey will be repeated annually by county. The system will also track patient experience scores on communication, the share of patients who say staff explained things clearly, uptake of preventive services in rural counties and complaints related to billing.
What Success Would Look Like
Success is not a better slogan. It is rural residents choosing the local hospital for care they now travel for, getting preventive care they now skip and telling the pastor that things have changed.
Conclusion
The pastor's warning named the brand's real problem: lost trust. National data show trust in physicians and hospitals fell sharply and fell most among groups health systems need to reach, and research links trust to health behaviors and satisfaction. Emotional connection in health care is earned through truth-telling, presence, shared decisions and kept promises, and it must be measured, not assumed.
References
Birkhäuer, J., Gaab, J., Kossowsky, J., Hasler, S., Krummenacher, P., Werner, C., & Gerger, H. (2017). Trust in the health care professional and health outcome: A meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 12(2), e0170988. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0170988
Kachalia, A., Kaufman, S. R., Boothman, R., Anderson, S., Welch, K., Saint, S., & Rogers, M. A. M. (2010). Liability claims and costs before and after implementation of a medical error disclosure program. Annals of Internal Medicine, 153(4), 213-221. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-153-4-201008170-00002
Perlis, R. H., Ognyanova, K., Uslu, A., Lunz Trujillo, K., Santillana, M., Druckman, J. N., Baum, M. A., & Lazer, D. (2024). Trust in physicians and hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic in a 50-state survey of US adults. JAMA Network Open, 7(7), e2424984. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24984
What the MHA 598 Week 3 instructions ask
Week 3 of MHA 598 generally centers on how health care organizations build an emotional connection with patients and communities as part of their brand. Students may describe what creates emotional attachment to a health care organization, explain trust's role, identify threats to that connection and recommend strategies. Some versions ask students to analyze a specific audience. Versions differ, so follow yours and note which audience it names. Strong papers treat trust as the core emotional connection in health care, use current evidence on trust levels and their effects, identify groups where trust is lowest, recommend actions that earn trust rather than messages that request it and measure change.
How this MHA 598 Week 3 example is built
The paper opens with a rural pastor telling the vice president of strategy that his congregation no longer trusts the hospital. National survey data show a steep decline in trust in physicians and hospitals and identify the groups with the lowest trust. A meta-analysis shows why trust matters for health behaviors and satisfaction. The system's own community survey confirms low trust in rural counties. The paper argues that emotional connection in health care comes from being known, told the truth and treated with respect. Honest disclosure after errors, local presence, community voices in decisions and consistent follow-through are recommended, with county-level measures of trust tracked each year and early signs of change.
MHA 598 Week 3 grading rubric: where the points go
The emotional connection week is generally graded on insight into how emotional bonds form, use of evidence and practical strategies. Graders look for a clear explanation of emotional connection, the central role of trust in health care, current evidence on trust and its effects, analysis of specific audiences, strategies grounded in behavior rather than messaging and measures. Current survey data and peer-reviewed studies make the argument stronger. Attention to groups with the lowest trust earns credit. The rest of the grade depends on organization and correct APA references. Papers that treat emotional branding as sentimental advertising, or ignore why trust has fallen, commonly lose points; strategies built only on messaging tend to lose credit too.
MHA 598 Week 3 help: mistakes to avoid
MHA 598 Week 3 papers often slip by treating emotional connection as a matter of moving advertisements. In health care, the strongest emotional bond is trust, and it is earned through behavior: telling the truth, keeping commitments, showing respect and being present in the community. Start with evidence on how much trust has fallen and among whom. Explain why trust matters for health, not only loyalty. Look honestly at what your organization has done to lose trust, such as closures or billing practices. Recommend actions that earn trust, involve trusted community messengers and measure trust directly over time, by community, rather than assuming it has improved.
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MHA 598 Week 3 questions, answered
What does MHA/598 Week 3 usually ask for?
In this third paper, students generally show how health care organizations build emotional connection with patients and communities, the role of trust and strategies to strengthen it.
Where can I find a free MHA 598 Week 3 sample paper?
Anyone can read the trust and brand paper above without paying; notes explain each strategy. Describe the community you serve, and your first paper costs nothing.
How much has trust in hospitals fallen?
A 50-state survey found the share of US adults reporting a lot of trust in physicians and hospitals fell from 71.5% in April 2020 to 40.1% in January 2024.
Why does patient trust matter?
A meta-analysis found a small to moderate correlation between trust and health outcomes, with patients who trusted their clinicians reporting better health behaviors, fewer symptoms, better quality of life and more satisfaction.
Who has the lowest trust in physicians and hospitals?
National survey data from 2023 associated lower trust with ages 25 to 64, female gender, lower education and income, Black race and rural residence, even after accounting for partisanship.
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