Abstract:OBJECTIVE To understand the cognitive status of outpatient patients in Zigong on hierachical diagnosis, and to explore the influence of different cognitive status on the willingness to see a doctor for common diseases and frequently-occurring diseases, so as to provide reference for the implementation of graded diagnosis and treatment system. METHODS Self-designed "Zigong City Outpa⁃ tients’Cognition of Hierarchical Diagnosis and Treatment and Willingness to Seek Medical Treatment Questionnaire", the use of strati⁃ fication and convenient sampling, the first, second and third medical institutions in Zigong city outpatients questionnaire. RESULTS The awareness rate was 46.67%, and the approval rate was 59.00%. The awareness rate of diagnosis and the acceptance of publicity had an impact on patients’willingness to seek medical treatment for frequentely-occurring common diseases (P＜0.05). There was no statistical difference in the willingness to seek medical treatment for frequentely-occurring common diseases in terms of approval rate, feasibility and two-way referral experience(P＞0.05). CONCLUSIONS Medical institutions at all levels should strengthen the publicity of hierarchical medical policies, clarify the functional positioning of medical institutions at different levels, improve the mechanism of linkage between the upper and lower levels, accelerate the improvement of the technical level and service capacity of grassroots medi⁃ cal institutions, and promote the in-depth promotion of hierarchical diagnosis system.