Three departments, including the General Office of the National Health Commission (NHC), have jointly released the Circular on Further Enhancing the Complaint Management in Medical Institutions (the "Circular").
The Circular requires medical institutions to establish a mechanism for quick response to patients' complaints, promptly respond to their urgent needs, difficulties, and concerns, raise the quality of medical institutions, protect healthcare security and the legitimate rights and interests of doctors and patients, and maintain normal medical order. The Circular, with a view to enhancing the complaint management in medical institutions, arranges for relevant work in terms of following work principles, strengthening organizational structuring, and standardizing complaint handling processes, among others. Actions will be taken mainly in six areas, including "improving the organizational framework for complaint management and setting up a three-level complaint management mechanism among medical institutions, complaint management departments, and hospital departments", and "creating smooth complaint channels, encouraging qualified medical institutions to establish multiple complaint and communication channels, facilitating patients in expressing their demands while emphasizing the first-complaint responsibility system and clarifying that the departments and staff members who receive complaints shall proactively handle them".