Guide

Medical costs in China: what things actually cost, and how to check your own hospital's prices

Most guides to medical costs in China either publish no numbers at all, or publish numbers with no source. This page does both halves: it gives you ranges drawn from government price documents and hospitals' own published price lists, and it shows you how to get the exact figure for the specific hospital that will treat you.

Two things to understand before you read the tables, because both change the answer by a factor of ten.

There is no national price. Medical service prices are set province by province. An ordinary outpatient consultation is around ¥6–10 across most of China — and ¥50 in Beijing, which abolished its registration fee in 2017 and replaced it with a separate medical service fee (医事服务费) that never came back down. Same service, five to eight times the price, purely because of the city you are standing in.

The tier you choose matters more than the city. The same appointment can cost ¥10 in an ordinary public outpatient clinic, ¥300 in that hospital's 特需 (VIP) clinic, or up to ¥2,840 at a private international hospital. The medicine is frequently identical. What you are buying is time, English, and a shorter queue.

Why there is no national price list

Medical service prices in China are not set nationally. Price items are managed at provincial level, and new items have to be reviewed and confirmed by the provincial health authority before a price can even be applied for. On top of that, public hospitals must follow government-guided prices and may not adjust them on their own, while private hospitals set their own prices for market-adjusted items.

The practical consequence: the same scan at the same hospital grade costs different amounts in two different provinces, and a private hospital is not bound by the public price at all. Anyone quoting you one national number is guessing. The tables below show the spread rather than hiding it.

Seeing a doctor: consultation and registration

In provinces that have adopted the national price-item framework, the old separate registration fee (挂号费) has been merged into a single outpatient consultation fee (门诊诊查费), with an add-on for senior job titles. Older price lists may still show registration and consultation as two lines. Either way, the total is in the range below.

Sources: Yunnan Provincial Healthcare Security Administration price schedule (¥10/¥8/¥6 by institution class, plus add-ons for senior titles); Henan 豫医保办〔2025〕51号 (¥10 base, +¥6 associate chief, +¥11 chief); Sichuan, Bazhong Healthcare Security Administration (¥9/¥13/¥15); Shenyang Municipal Health Commission price schedule and Shenyang Municipal Hospital of TCM 2025 price disclosure (¥9.60/¥14.40/¥19.20, named experts ¥36/¥60/¥96, emergency ¥24); Henan Provincial Chest Hospital 2026 price list (emergency ¥21, inpatient ¥23/day, convenience clinic ¥0.50); Beijing Municipal Health Commission (¥50/¥60/¥80/¥100, emergency ¥70, inpatient ¥100/day).

Tests and imaging

This is where the bill grows fastest, and where the rules matter. CT and MRI are billed per body part, not per session — a rule introduced specifically to stop hospitals splitting a scan into several chargeable parts. If a doctor orders "a CT of the chest", that is one part. Ask what has been ordered, because two parts is roughly double.

Sources: Henan Provincial Chest Hospital 2026 price list (CT ¥195 plain / ¥265 with contrast / ¥520 angiography, MRI ¥504 plain / ¥555 with contrast, X-ray ¥47, mammogram ¥100); Shenyang Municipal Hospital of TCM 2025 price disclosure (ultrasound ¥99, cardiac ultrasound ¥143, complete blood count ¥25.30, urinalysis ¥7, stool routine ¥10, 14C breath test ¥110); Guang'an (Sichuan) price notice lowering large-equipment examination prices (CT ¥156 per part at tertiary level); Shanghai Medical Security Bureau 沪医保价采发〔2021〕33号 (CT and MRI to be billed per body part; the attached schedule is the maximum charge for Shanghai public hospitals).

Bed, nursing and daily inpatient charges

If you are admitted — or even held for observation — these are charged per day and they add up quietly. Note that nursing level is assigned by the hospital, not chosen by you, and that a "special-grade" nursing charge is a clinical classification, not a service upgrade you are buying.

Sources: Shenyang Municipal Hospital of TCM 2025 price disclosure (beds ¥39/¥74/¥77/¥150/ ¥480, intensive care bed ¥66); Henan Provincial Chest Hospital 2026 price list (beds ¥18/¥32/¥47, intensive care ¥65, laminar-flow ¥262, nursing ¥15/¥25/¥50/¥162).

The middle tier: 特需 and international departments in public hospitals

特需 (literally "special needs") is the tier most foreign patients never hear about, and it is usually the best value on this page. You get an English-capable doctor, a private consulting room, an appointment that is actually honoured, and a dedicated guide — inside a top public hospital, at a fraction of private-hospital prices.

It is not covered by Chinese basic medical insurance, and its prices are market-set rather than government-set — but with real constraints. A public hospital must file the prices with the provincial price authority and publicly display them; 特需 services may not exceed 10% of the hospital's total service volume or expenditure; 特需 beds may not exceed 10% of licensed beds; and the doctors staffing a 特需 clinic must hold senior titles.

Roughly, expect ¥200–1,000 per consultation and ¥800–3,000 per ward day at the premium end. But a range across four hospitals in four provinces is not a useful comparison — so here is what each of them actually published, side by side.

Sources: each hospital's own published price disclosure — Nanxishan Hospital 特需 price disclosure, 9 September 2026 (¥300/¥500/¥800 by title, inpatient consultation ¥800 per day, escort nursing ¥300 per day, errand service ¥100 per day, ¥8,000 and ¥3,000 surgical consultation items), and its separate 特需 ward disclosure of 22 December 2025 (beds ¥80–¥588 by class, obstetric rooms up to ¥880, 特需 nursing ¥45/¥60/¥75, inpatient consultation ¥75); Lishui Central Hospital self-priced services disclosure, 13 August 2026 (特需 clinic service fee ¥300, bedside examination surcharge ¥100, international ward ¥800/¥1,200/¥3,000 per day); Ningbo University Affiliated First Hospital international medical service menu, 14 August 2026 (clinic consultation ¥200–¥500, inpatient consultation ¥150 per day, wards ¥800–¥3,000 per day, and the 2–3× rule for all other services); Shenzhen Longgang District People's Hospital 特需 price disclosure, 21 April 2025 (associate chief ¥600, chief physician ¥800, professor ¥1,000, remote specialist consultation ¥1,500–¥2,000 per hour, all self-pay). Policy framework: Hainan Provincial Healthcare Security Administration policy explainer (four separately priced items only; notice published 10 working days in advance); Hubei Provincial Healthcare Security Administration, Measures for the Management of 特需 Medical Services in Public Medical Institutions (Trial), 鄂医保发〔2026〕22号 (volume and expenditure caps, 10% bed cap, exclusion from basic insurance); Shandong Provincial Government, 鲁卫医字〔2026〕8号 (senior title requirement, price filing, minimum six-month repricing cycle, mandatory public display).

The top tier: private international hospitals

Private hospitals set their own prices and are not bound by the government schedule. They publish price lists, they run 24-hour English lines, and many bill international insurers directly. If your insurance is accepted, the list price is not what you pay, and the tier can in practice be cheaper than the public hospital you pay for yourself — check your policy before ruling it out.

A consultation runs from under ¥10 to over ¥2,800 depending on which door you walk through, and a routine blood test by roughly eleven times — for the same analyser and the same result. You are not buying better medicine; you are buying the service tier.

Source: Beijing United Family Hospital published price list. Other private international hospitals publish lists at comparable levels; get the list for the specific hospital and department you are considering.

Which hospitals these numbers come from

Seven hospitals, in six cities. Every one of them is here for one reason only: it publishes a price document that can be read and quoted. They are not a shortlist, a ranking, or a recommendation.

The absence of your city from that table means nothing. Every public hospital in China is required to display its prices on site and to give you an itemised bill — so the hospital in front of you has the document, whether or not it is on the internet.

The five payments

A hospital visit is not one bill. It is a sequence of separate payments, and each one is a separate queue. Knowing this in advance prevents the most common mistake — budgeting for the treatment and forgetting the four payments around it.

What makes your bill bigger

You have a right to see the prices — use it

This is the most useful thing on this page, and most foreign patients never use it.

Under the rules on hospital internal price management, hospitals are required to establish a price display system and post the prices of commonly used medical services, medicines and medical consumables in a prominent position in the service area — and to update the display when prices change. They must also publish their own price enquiry and complaint phone number in a prominent position.

Separately, hospitals must operate an itemised cost sheet system — in paper or electronic form — covering the name, code, unit price, billing unit, date of use, quantity and amount of each service, medicine and consumable. Hospitals must provide a printed copy when the patient asks for one.

There is also a market regulator's complaint hotline, 12315, for pricing problems. Hospitals are required to display it. A 2026 draft regulation would go further — requiring hospitals with websites to publish a permanent link to consolidated price information, and stating explicitly that the settled price may not exceed the displayed price. That regulation was still out for public consultation in February 2026, so treat it as direction of travel rather than current law.

How to get a written estimate before you commit

1. Ask the international department for a cost estimate in writing (费用预估). For anything involving admission or surgery, some hospitals will only provide one after reviewing your records — so send the records first.
2. Ask what is excluded. An estimate for a procedure frequently excludes the pre-operative tests, the bed, the medication and the follow-up. Get each of those listed separately, or assume they are extra.
3. Ask which charging model applies to non-consultation services — government price, or a multiple of it. See the 特需 section above; the difference on a surgery is large.
4. Ask how many body parts are being scanned, if imaging is involved.
5. Ask whether prepayment or a deposit is required. Some hospitals ask international patients to pay in advance or lodge a deposit before scheduling a procedure. This changes your cash planning and can also serve as proof of funds for a visa application.
6. Ask which payment methods are accepted. Do this before you choose the hospital, not on the day. Payment is the single most common point of failure for foreign patients.
7. Ask for the price display. Cross-check every figure in the estimate against the hospital's displayed prices.

Insurance: pay first, claim later

Most international health insurance operates on reimbursement in mainland China. You pay the hospital, then claim. That means three things:

• Call your insurer's assistance line before treatment and ask which hospitals are in network and whether direct billing is available. This single call can change which tier is cheapest for you.
• Keep the official invoice (发票) for every payment. Without it, claims usually fail.
• Collect copies of the medical record and test reports as you go — see how to request your records. Chasing them after you leave the country is far harder.

If you are legally employed in China, your employer is required to enrol you in social insurance including employee basic medical insurance, and that changes the arithmetic substantially. Check whether you are enrolled before assuming you are paying full price.

Six ways foreign patients overpay

1. Using the international department for everything. Take the ¥800 consultation for the diagnosis, then walk two floors down and pay the government price for the blood test. You are not required to stay in one tier for all of it — ask whether you can.
2. Paying for a follow-up you did not need to re-register for. Ask whether the department has a same-visit review rule before assuming you must pay again.
3. Never asking for the price list. You cannot compare what you cannot see, and the difference between tiers is a factor of ten.
4. Not keeping invoices. The most expensive mistake, because it is irreversible.
5. Taking a brand-name medicine without asking for the generic name. Ask the hospital pharmacy for the generic name, then price it.
6. Assuming the estimate is the total. It almost never is.

What this page does not do

It does not rank hospitals and it does not recommend one. The hospitals named on this page — in the 特需 table and in the list above — are named because they publish the price documents quoted here, which is the only reason any of them appears. If a hospital near you is not listed, that is a fact about its website, not about its medicine.

The ranges above are a planning tool: they tell you what order of magnitude to expect and whether a figure you have been quoted is plausible. They are not a quote, and they will drift as provinces revise their schedules. Get the actual number from the hospital that will treat you, and get it in writing. This page is not medical advice, and not financial advice.