Objective  To investigate the cognition on a pension pattern characterized by integrated medical and elderly care services and its influencing factors among residents in Henan province.

  Methods  Using a self-designed questionnaire, we conducted a survey among 2 500 urban and rural residents recruited with simple random sampling in 18 municipalities across Henan province during June – September 2019.

  Results  Complete information were collected from 2 361 (94.44%) of the residents. Of the valid respondents, 40.03% had never heard of the pension pattern integrating medical and elderly care services; 45.53% had just heard of it but did not know about the pattern; 12.58% had a general knowledge about the pattern; and 1.86% knew all about the pattern. The majority (79.16%) of the respondents expressed the willingness to get a comprehensive knowledge about the pension pattern but only a few (5.63%) of the respondents reported the willingness to utilize the integrated medical and elderly care services in future. The ratio for having the willingness to utilize the integrated care services was higher among the respondents intending to get the knowledge about the pension pattern than among those without the intension (χ² = 206.110, P < 0.05) and the ratio was also higher among the respondents with a comprehensive knowledge about the pension pattern than among those with a little knowledge (χ² = 109.698, P < 0.05). Among the respondents, the self-reported main impact factors for the selection of elderly care institution were time and vitality (perceived by 65.73% of the respondents), physical condition (61.80%), and family economic condition (50.74%).

  Conclusion  The cognition on the integrated medical and elderly care services for older people is at a low level among urban and rural residents in Henan province and government departments should improve relevant policies and increase publicity efforts for the promotion of the pension pattern.