Health Information and Trust

From Drew Altman, Ph.D., KFF President and CEO, KFF Health News Founding Publisher As part of our new Initiative on Health Misinformation and Trust, I wanted to share with you a new report we launched today as a service for anyone and everyone interested in health misinformation and trust. It’s…

This first edition of the Health Misinformation Monitor explores misinformation about raw milk amid bird flu outbreaks on dairy farms, false vaccine narratives that continue to spread, and legal challenges against abortion pill reversal claims. Additionally, a growing number of states have required public schools to show fetal development videos that some have called biased and inaccurate. This Monitor report also provides a snapshot of new KFF misinformation polling on TikTok and discusses the early challenges faced by The World Health Organization’s new AI tool SARAH in providing accurate answers to health questions.

KFF’s Health Misinformation Tracking Poll shows that most adults who use the social media app TikTok report seeing health-related information or advice on the app. While fewer than half of users say they trust health information they see on the app, younger, Black and Hispanic users report higher levels of trust.

As rates of childhood vaccination decline and with measles on the rise again, a KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll, fielded in late February, examines the extent to which adults have heard and believe misinformation about the measles vaccine. The poll also examines the public’s views of the U.S. government and…

The latest KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll examines misinformation related to the measles vaccine and the public’s views of the U.S. government and social media companies’ role in moderating false claims online.

From the 2023 KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants – the largest nationally representative survey focused on this group – comes five key facts about information gaps regarding public charge rules and how these information gaps can prevent immigrants from getting financial assistance they need.

Majorities of U.S. adults perceive racism to be a major problem in politics, the criminal justice system, and policing, with some variance across racial and ethnic groups, while a third see racism as a major problem in health care. This may reflect high levels of trust in health care professionals compared to the police and the courts.

About a third (32%) of the public view racism as a major problem in health care, fewer than say the same about politics (56%), the criminal justice system (54%), and policing (51%), a new KFF report on the public’s views of racism finds. The lower levels of perceived racism in…

In this column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman explains the organization’s role in providing independent, authoritative policy analysis, polling and journalism and provides an overview of the standards and practices in place to maintain credibility in an era of declining trust and rampant misinformation.

This fact sheet offers a look back at 10 issues that KFF tracked closely during 2023 in its polling, policy analysis and journalism, including summaries of major findings and news stories.