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Published procedure prices

Cataract surgery with a lens implant in China: the published price

Two lines: the standard operation, and the same operation for a small pupil, which is harder and costs a little more. The intraocular lens is not in either line. These are the procedure charges in the public ward; what a private or international ward charges for the same operation is set by the hospital.

The published price lines

Every line Beijing's schedule publishes for this procedure, with the project code the hospital bills against and the date the schedule took effect. One row per line, not one total.

ItemPublished price
Phacoemulsification + IOL (standard)
Project code: HEP61302 · Schedule name: 白内障超声乳化吸除+人工晶状体植入术
Procedure line · Standard public ward
$221¥1,483
Phaco + IOL, small pupil
Project code: HEP61303 · Schedule name: 小瞳孔白内障超声乳化吸除+人工晶状体植入术
Procedure line · Standard public ward
$238¥1,600

Source: Jun 15, 2019

Chinese hospitals publish prices in CNY; the CNY figures are converted for readability using an indicative rate and are not a quoted price. International-department services are priced by each hospital and are typically well above these statutory rates. Always obtain a written quote before travelling.

What this price is

A line in Beijing's published medical service price schedule: the rate a hospital in that city bills against for the procedure itself, for a patient on the standard public ward. It is not a quote, not an estimate and not a total. An international department sets its own prices, and a patient who is not on the Chinese insurance system is usually charged under that department's list — which is higher, sometimes considerably higher.

What the line does not cover

A published surgical price is the procedure line, never the invoice. The schedule says which items each line excludes, and the row above prints that list. Sutures, haemostatic materials, drains, the laparoscope and its consumables, staplers, clips, energy devices, anti-adhesion film, glue, the implant or mesh, the fixation device, imaging guidance in theatre and the clean operating theatre itself are billed on top. So are the ward, the medicines and the investigations before and after. The figure in the table is the part that is published; the invoice is not.

What the stay costs on top

A bed is a bed, wherever you are admitted, so the published ward rates apply to every one of these procedures. They are per day, and they are the clearest published account of what actually drives cost in a Chinese hospital: ward class, not privacy.

What a hospital bed costs per day in Beijing
  • General ward bed¥50
    / day
  • Three-bed room¥60
    / day
  • Intensive care unit bed¥60
    / day
  • Single room¥80
    / day
  • ISO-7 cleanroom bed¥300
    / day
  • Special protective ward bed¥1,100
    / day

Published daily rates. The spread across room types is small — a single room costs ¥30 more than a shared one — while the spread across ward classes is 22 times. The multiplier in a Chinese hospital is ward class, not privacy.

Ward rates (per day)

Where to have it

The hospitals we list that carry this specialty, with the reputation positions we can attribute to a source. A published schedule line tells you what the procedure costs in a Chinese city. It does not tell you which hospital to go to, and it is not a quality ranking.

Ophthalmology

#4in Ophthalmology
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine浙江大学医学院附属第二医院 · Hangzhou
#6in Ophthalmology
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital上海交通大学医学院附属第九人民医院 · Shanghai
#7in Ophthalmology
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		Peking Union Medical College Hospital中国医学科学院北京协和医院 · Beijing
#8in Ophthalmology
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		Shanghai General Hospital上海市第一人民医院 · Shanghai
#10in Ophthalmology
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		Peking University People's Hospital北京大学人民医院 · Beijing

Other procedures with published prices

The rest of the schedule we have read, grouped by the operation a patient would name.