ObjectiveTo understand patients’ cognition of third-party mediation model for medical disputes, analyze the factors influencing the trust of patients on third-party mediation, and propose recommendations for building third-party mediation mechanisms. MethodsFrom November 2013 to April 2014, we referred past literature to design a relevant questionnaire on the cognition of third-party mediation for medical disputes. Patients who had reached the end of the treatment were surveyed by random cluster sampling. The raw data were put into the computer for statistical analysis by SPSS 18.0. ResultsAfter giving out 500 questionnaires, we acquired 486 effective questionnaires. The result showed that 61.52% of the patients knew of third-party mediation; 55.35% of the patients considered that thirdparty mediation should be set in and supervised by the court or judicial administrative department; if the mediation failed, 57.41% of the patients chose to resolve the dispute through legal channels, and 67.90% of the patients tended to confirm the force of mediation conclusion by arbitration; 70.58% of the patients considered that mediators should have professional background of medicine and law; 73.05% of the patients tended to take conclusions of forensic identification as the basis for mediation; 64.81% of the patients were biased to take Tort Liability Act as the basis for determining the compensation; 53.70% of the patients believed that financial allocations could solve the fund problems of third-party mediation, while 38.48% of the patients thought the funds should be provided by insurance companies; 91.15% of the patients thought the medical institutions should purchase medical liability insurance, and 54.32% of the patients thought insurance companies should not intervene the process of meditation. Conclusions Government should provide financial allocations to ensure the funds of third-party mediation. Besides, medical insurance should be brought in as a supplement. Medical institutions should purchase medical liability insurance to solve problems caused by medical disputes. Third-party mediation should be set in and supervised by the court or the judicial administrative department. Mediators should have professional background of medicine and law. Conclusions of forensic identification should be the basis for third-party mediation.