Health and longevity / Chapter 24
This section focuses on the practical steps involved in getting medical treatment — which hospitals to visit first, how to transfer between levels of care, and where you can cut down on expenses. It also explains how to wait in emergency queues, what evaluations and documents are required after serious injuries, and what benefits you may be eligible for (see Section 7). Long‑term management of chronic diseases is covered in Section 16, while immediate actions at the scene of an emergency are described in Section 13.
The content is largely based on the “Several Measures on Accelerating the Development of a Hierarchical Medical System” issued by the General Office of the State Council in April 2026. This system directs patients to hospitals according to the severity of their condition. The document explicitly links using primary‑level facilities with lower medical costs. However, implementation varies by region, so the national rules outlined here should be cross‑checked with local policies issued by your social insurance and health authorities. Your “coordinated region” is simply the area where you’re enrolled in medical insurance — usually a city.
Go to the community clinic first. If the clinic then refers you to a large hospital for a stay, the stretch you pay at the start carries forward, and you do not pay that stretch a second time. …
The document requires that, for the same inpatient bill, a lower hospital level reimburses a higher share. Localities have to open a gap between levels, about 10 percentage points for each step up. …
This part comes from the parveen0029/The-Evidence-Based-Life edition.
Major hospitals must set aside a portion of appointments and beds specifically for patients referred from local clinics. …
Whether you need to go elsewhere for care is, in principle, assessed by a doctor at associate chief physician rank or above, at a secondary or tertiary hospital. …
Looking up and copying your own records is a right the law gives you. Outpatient records, the inpatient record, lab slips, images, surgery and anesthesia records, pathology material, and the bill can all be copied. …
If you’re unsure about any aspect of your treatment, you have the right to request that your medical records be sealed. …
The emergency department does not go by who arrived earlier. It sorts people into Level I through Level IV by how serious the condition is. …
The state has a disease emergency-assistance fund that pays emergency fees for both of these groups: people whose identity cannot be established, and people who cannot pay. …
How much is paid depends mainly on which grade is given, and the grade depends on how much function is still lost after treatment. …
A disability certificate is the threshold for receiving disability benefits. It is not proof of an injury. Disabilities fall into 7 categories: vision, hearing, speech, physical, intellectual, mental, and multiple. …
Paying money in advance will not buy you a better place in line. Appointment slots, beds, scarce drugs, and the scheduling of surgery must not be traded for a favor. …
After the 2023 concentrated price cut for implants, the overall fee for a routine implant fell from an average of 15000 yuan to 6000 to 7000 yuan. …
If the hospital says a nationally negotiated drug is out of stock or not stocked, that does not mean the drug cannot be reimbursed. …
If a chronic illness was diagnosed at a hospital, the condition is stable, and the medicines to be prescribed are still those same ones, you can do a follow-up online with the original hospital, and the medicine can be mailed home. …
During a stay you can ask for a bill. It lists the unit price, the quantity, and the date of each drug and each test. …
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