For a stable chronic disease, a community hospital can prescribe up to 12 weeks of medicine at a single visit
Grade AMedium benefitTimeFreeLittle timeNo willpower
If the illness is stable and the drugs have not been changed, a community health service center can prescribe at most 12 weeks of medicine at a single visit. That saves the half-day each month spent going to a large hospital, queuing, and registering. In the same place where you are insured, the inpatient reimbursement rate at a primary-level hospital is in principle about 10 percentage points higher than at the next tier up.
- Cost
- No cost. At the community health service center (社区卫生服务中心), ask whether a long-term prescription is possible. It is a single question.
- Benefit
- You do not have to go back and forth to a large hospital every month and queue for a refill. In the same insured place (also called a pooled region, 统筹地区), the inpatient reimbursement rate at a primary-level hospital is in principle about 10 percentage points higher than at the next tier up
- Notes
- "Meets the conditions" is judged by the doctor, usually someone whose diagnosis is already clear and whose drug plan is stable. The drug stays the same drug. What you save is the half-day trip each month and the registration fee. If the primary-level site does not have the drug you need, ask whether they have a shortage register and delivery. The same document also requires tertiary hospitals to gradually cut ordinary outpatient clinics for this kind of chronic disease, and to extend the specialist team's ordinary clinics into the community. Using a large hospital as a refill point will get harder to book. If the community does not have your drug, or a specialist has to watch the dose changes, you can get the refill from an online follow-up at the hospital that made the diagnosis; see section 24, item 14 (online follow-up at an internet hospital).
Sources · 1
- 国务院办公厅 (2026). 关于加快建设分级诊疗体系的若干措施. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202604/content_70650…：「对于符合条件的慢性病患者，基层医疗卫生机构单次可开具不超过12周用药的长期处方。」；同文「原则上统筹地区内医疗卫生机构住院报销比例逐级拉开10个百分点左右的差距」，并要求上级医院在基层开设高血压、糖尿病、慢性阻塞性肺疾病等常见病慢性病门诊；同文「三级医院要聚焦急危重症和疑难复杂疾病，加强转诊会诊和住院服务，逐步酌减常见病复诊和诊断明确、病情稳定的慢性病等普通门诊」，「并将专家团队普通门诊向基层医疗卫生机构延伸」