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Published procedure prices

Knee ligament and meniscus surgery in China: the published price

Three lines for the three knee operations that are not joint replacement: rebuilding the anterior cruciate ligament, and repairing or removing a torn meniscus. The meniscal repair and the meniscectomy are priced the same, which is worth knowing before you assume the repair costs more because it takes longer. ACL reconstruction is priced per side.

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
Anterior cruciate ligament, open reconstruction
Project code: HXK89304 · Schedule name: 膝前交叉韧带切开重建术
Procedure line · Standard public ward
Excluded from this price line: 不含髁间窝成形术、半月板切除或者半月板缝合手术、软骨病灶修整术、术中透视 Procedure line only. Implants, consumables, imaging guidance and the operating theatre are billed on top. Standard public ward, not an international-department price.
$265per side¥1,782
Arthroscopic meniscal repair, suture
Project code: HXL83501 · Schedule name: 关节镜下半月板缝合术
Procedure line · Standard public ward
Excluded from this price line: 不含软骨修复、髁间窝成形 Procedure line only. Implants, consumables, imaging guidance and the operating theatre are billed on top. Standard public ward, not an international-department price.
$354per operation¥2,376
Arthroscopic meniscectomy
Project code: HXL73502 · Schedule name: 关节镜下半月板切除术
Procedure line · Standard public ward
Excluded from this price line: 不含软骨修复、髁间窝成形 Procedure line only. Implants, consumables, imaging guidance and the operating theatre are billed on top. Standard public ward, not an international-department price.
$354per operation¥2,376

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.

Orthopaedics

#2in Orthopaedics
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital上海市第六人民医院 · Shanghai
#3in Orthopaedics
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		PLA General Hospital中国人民解放军总医院 · Beijing
#4in Orthopaedics
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		Peking University Third Hospital北京大学第三医院 · Beijing
#5in Orthopaedics
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		Peking Union Medical College Hospital中国医学科学院北京协和医院 · Beijing
#6in Orthopaedics
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		West China Hospital, Sichuan University四川大学华西医院 · Chengdu
#7in Orthopaedics
2023 · Fudan SRCAIH		The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University河北医科大学第三医院 · Shijiazhuang
#9in Orthopaedics
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.