Published procedure prices

Spinal surgery: discectomy and fusion in China: the published price

Three lines, all of them priced per disc level, because that is how the schedule charges for them: removing a disc, removing a disc with the lamina taken off to reach it, and removing a disc with decompression and a fusion. A patient with two affected levels is quoted for two levels, and the price of the second level is not a rounding error.

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.

Item	Published price
Lumbar discectomy Project code: HVU56302 · Schedule name: 腰椎间盘摘除术 Procedure line · Standard public ward Excluded from this price line: 不含X线引导.	$664¥4,455
Laminectomy and lumbar disc excision Project code: HVU56309 · Schedule name: 椎板开窗腰椎间盘髓核摘除术 Procedure line · Standard public ward Excluded from this price line: 不含X线引导 Procedure line only. Implants, consumables, imaging guidance and the operating theatre are billed on top. Standard public ward, not an international-department price.	$664per disc level¥4,455
Posterior lumbar disc excision, nerve root decompression and interbody fusion Project code: HVU56310 · Schedule name: 后路腰椎间盘髓核摘除神经根管减压椎间植骨融合术 Procedure line · Standard public ward Excluded from this price line: 不含X线引导、取骨术 Procedure line only. Implants, consumables, imaging guidance and the operating theatre are billed on top. Standard public ward, not an international-department price.	$885per disc level¥5,940

Source: Jun 15, 2019 · 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.

Four questions to ask before you book

Each of these gets you a written answer from the hospital. Nothing on this page can.

1. Do you have a dedicated international department, and will it see a patient who is paying for themselves?
2. Do you bill international insurers directly, or do I pay and claim back?
3. Can you give me a written estimate before I book, and what is the deposit?
4. Will my records and discharge summary be in English?

Send those four questions to the hospital's international department in writing, before you travel, and keep the answers. A written answer from the hospital is worth more than any estimate on this page, including the ones we have published.

Source: Beijing Municipal Healthcare Security Bureau, published medical service price schedule, dated 26 March 2024. Prices confirmed 2024-03-26 and are flagged as needing re-checking before you rely on them. These are standard public-ward rates; an international patient self-paying in a private or international ward will pay more, sometimes considerably more.