Introduction. The provision of medical care is associated with high risks of harm to health and life, with the probability of occurrence and development of adverse events. The risk-oriented approach in the management and control of the activities of a medical organization is regulated by law and is implemented through identification, indication and risk assessment. The management of a medical organization is faced with the task of defining a risk management strategy. When dealing with adverse events, not only a reactive, but also a proactive approach is important, which is implemented through risk-oriented management. The article presents the first stage of risk management - risk identification. The aim of the study was to identify the risks of harm to health in the provision of medical care based on the analysis of patient complaints. Materials and methods To identify risks based on the results of the analysis of patients' appeals, the technology of compiling control lists, classification and systematization was applied. Undesirable events reported by patients are systematized into homogeneous clusters, risks are highlighted. A risk source is defined for each event. Identification of the causes of undesirable events, which may be indicators of risk, was carried out using the construction of the Ishikawa diagram. Results and discussions When analyzing patient complaints for 2017-2021, according to data from various sources, there is an annual increase in the number of substantiated complaints. The analysis of appeals made it possible to identify undesirable events, 16.5% [11.7-21.3] of which are regarded as incidents with risks of causing harm to health of varying severity. All risks are systematized into 6 groups: diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitation, identification, associated with injury to patients, with the production environment. In the group of diagnostic and therapeutic risks, the most common sources of risk are doctors when they provide medical services - 58% [54.1-61.9] and 86% [82.7-89.3], respectively. One of the main reasons for the occurrence of diagnostic risks is the high workload on staff due to the low staffing of positions of medical and secondary personnel. The condition of the equipment on which the research is carried out is of great importance. Violations in the research technology are associated with non-compliance with the algorithms of diagnostic manipulations, the absence of standard operating procedures approved by the medical organization. Conclusion The introduction of a risk-based approach when dealing with patient complaints allows medical organizations to work on the prevention, identification and prevention of risks that threaten the life and health of citizens, to minimize the consequences of their occurrence by improving approaches to the implementation of medical activities. Thus, the main goal of a healthcare provider is to conduct a risk assessment and build a risk management system. The analysis of patients' appeals makes it possible to identify risks, determine their structure, causes and sources of undesirable events, which in the future can serve as a basis for identifying indicators of the risk of harm to health in the provision of medical care.