Objective To analyze the residents′ willingness to hierarchical medical system and their intention of first visit hospitals.Methods Customized questionnaire was used for in-home survey of 1 500 households in three cities of Shandong province,with 773 of the residents aware of hierarchical medical system used as the study samples.Descriptive analysis and multi factor Logistic regression were employed for statistical analysis of their intention.Results 85.0% the residents expressed willingness to embrace hierarchical medical system.55.0% of the residents prefer primary medical institutions as their first visit in case of mild illness,a choice chosen by more rural residents(58.9%)than urban residents(48.0%),a difference of statistical significance(P<0.01).In the case of severe illness,87.3% of them prefer major hospitals as their first visit,and more urban residents(94.3%)take this option than the rural residents(83.3%),a difference of statistical significance(P<0.01).Service ability of medical institutions and residents′ concept for medical service played a key role in their choice of first visit hospitals.Conclusions The key to ensuring the implementation effect of hierarchical medical system lies in better service ability of primary medical institutions and correction of residents′ irrational medication concepts.