BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is increasingly integrated into healthcare and insurance systems, therefore, it is essential to understand its current status and patients perspectives. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1st to December 31st, 2023, across five TCM practices in Switzerland. All patients attending their sixth therapy session were invited to complete an electroni-cally anonymized questionnaire covering patient demographics, treatment experiences, and satisfaction. RESULTS: A total of 461 patients participated in the survey, with the majority being female (60.1%) and aged 50 years or older (57.4%). Among them, 54.0% reported multiple health conditions, with 32.9% having musculo-skeletal disorders and 31.8% suffering from chronic pain as the main reasons for seeking therapy. Most patients received weekly TCM treatments (91.3%), with 50.7% also undergoing conventional therapies. Of the respond-ents, 50.0% reported full coverage for their TCM therapy costs. TCM was mainly accessed through personal rec-ommendations (44.5%), and 92.2% experienced wait times under 10 minutes. Acupuncture was the predominant treatment (95.7%), with 35.8% receiving additional dietary advice. Overall satisfaction reached 96.5%, and 99.5% expressed intent to continue TCM. Full compared to no TCM expense coverage was positively associated with treatment satisfaction (odds ratio = 2.42, 95% CI [1.10 to 5.31], p = 0.028), while other medical factors showed no significant impact on satisfaction. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that women, patients over 50 years, and those with multiple health conditions, especially musculoskeletal and pain conditions, are more likely to seek regular integrated TCM treatment. Patients reported high satisfaction with TCM, and treatment satisfaction was positively associated with full com-pared to no health insurance coverage. Future research should include more TCM practices and patients to fur-ther generalize these findings and precisely assess the impact of insurance coverage on TCM satisfaction to meet patient needs better.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This project received no specific funding from public, commercial, or non-profit funding agencies.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

In agreement with the Swiss Human Research Act (HRA) and due to the assessment of anonymized data, this survey did not require ethical approval. This was confirmed by the local Ethics Committee Northwest and Central Switzerland (Req-2022-01098).

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