The 7-Point Screening System: How We Vet Every Hospital We Match

Every hospital in our network passes through the same filter. No exceptions for famous names. No shortcuts for partner institutions.

1. Fudan Ranking Tier Verification

The Fudan University hospital rankings are the most authoritative public evaluation of Chinese hospitals. Released annually, they divide the top 100 general hospitals into five tiers: A++++, A+++, A++, A+, and A. We only consider hospitals in the top three tiers for our general hospital matches. For specialty care, we look at the 45 specialty reputation rankings, where hospitals are ranked among China’s top 10 for specific fields like oncology, cardiac surgery, and orthopedics. A hospital that ranks A+++ overall but has no oncology reputation ranking would never be matched to a lung cancer patient. The specialty ranking is what matters for your case.

2. JCI Accreditation or Equivalent International Standard

Joint Commission International accreditation is the closest thing to a universal quality benchmark for hospitals outside the United States. It covers patient safety protocols, medication management, infection control, and governance. Many of China’s top public hospitals hold JCI accreditation, but not all do. Some rely on China’s domestic Class 3A (三级甲等) designation, which is rigorous but less familiar to Western patients. We document which standard each hospital holds and explain what it means in plain English before you commit to anything.

3. Surgical and Procedural Volume Data

Volume predicts outcomes. A cardiac surgery team that performs 14,000 open-heart procedures a year has seen complications that a 200-case-per-year team has only read about. Fuwai Hospital in Beijing performs more cardiac surgeries annually than any hospital on the planet. That number matters. When we vet a hospital for a specific procedure, we ask for annual case volume, not just capacity. If a hospital cannot provide this data, we do not match it for that procedure.

4. International Patient Infrastructure

A hospital can be clinically excellent and logistically hostile to foreign patients. We check for dedicated international departments, English-speaking nursing staff, patient coordinators, and experience handling foreign insurance documentation. This is where many excellent domestic hospitals fail our screening. A hospital that treats 10,000 Chinese patients daily but has no mechanism for a non-Chinese speaker to register, pay, and navigate the building is not a match, no matter how good its surgeons are.

5. On-the-Ground Verification

Our team visits hospitals in person. We walk the international department, speak with the coordination staff, and check the actual patient flow — not the polished brochure version. We verify that the English-speaking staff actually speak English. We confirm that the payment counters accept foreign cards. We time how long a patient waits between registration and consultation. This is the part no algorithm can replace.

6. Pricing Transparency Assessment

Chinese public hospitals are required to publish price lists for common procedures, but the real cost of care depends on dozens of variables. We ask for written quotes for specific procedures before recommending a hospital. If a hospital refuses to provide a written estimate, we flag it. If their quote is wildly out of line with comparable institutions, we ask why. We have walked away from hospitals that could not justify their pricing.

7. Post-Discharge Follow-Up Capability

Your care does not end when you leave the hospital. We evaluate whether a hospital can provide structured follow-up: remote consultations, translated discharge summaries, medication reconciliation for your home physician, and a clear point of contact for complications. A hospital with no follow-up mechanism is a hospital we do not recommend for international patients.

Who This Screening Process Helps — and Who It Doesn’t

This level of vetting is not for everyone. It exists for a specific type of patient.

Good candidates for our hospital matching include:

• Patients considering major surgery — cardiac, orthopedic, oncologic — where hospital choice directly affects outcomes
• Patients who need a second opinion from a top-tier Chinese specialist but don’t know which hospital to trust
• Patients from countries with long surgical wait times who want to understand their options in China
• Patients who have a specific hospital or department in mind and need help verifying its credentials
• Patients who value transparency about pricing, accreditation, and logistics before committing to travel

Who should not use this process:

• Patients seeking cosmetic procedures from unverified clinics — we only work with accredited hospitals, not medi-spas
• Patients who want a guaranteed specific surgeon and surgery date before any consultation — Chinese public hospitals require in-person evaluation first, and no legitimate service can bypass that
• Patients who expect U.S.-style private hospital amenities at Chinese public hospital prices
• Patients who are not willing to share medical records for review — we cannot vet a hospital for your case without knowing your case

That last point is important. We are not a travel agency that books hospital beds. We are a case management team. The quality of our match depends on the quality of information you give us.

The Options, Compared: What “Vetting” Actually Means Across Different Hospital Types

China’s hospital landscape splits into three broad categories. Each requires a different vetting emphasis.

A cardiac bypass at a top public hospital might cost $12,000 to $20,000. The same procedure at a private international hospital in Shanghai could run $40,000 to $80,000. Neither is “better” in the abstract. The public hospital has higher surgical volume and more experienced teams. The private hospital has English-speaking staff, faster scheduling, and direct insurance billing. The right choice depends on what you value most.

Our vetting process does not rank these categories against each other. It ranks hospitals within each category. That’s the only comparison that matters for your specific situation.

What Happens After a Hospital Passes Our Screening

Passing the seven-point filter is not the end of the process. It’s the beginning of the matching phase.

Once a hospital clears our screening, we map your specific condition to the right department and specialist team. We do not match patients to hospitals in the abstract. We match patients to departments. A hospital that is outstanding for liver surgery might be mediocre for pediatric neurology. The Fudan specialty rankings exist precisely because overall hospital reputation does not transfer across departments.

Here’s what that looks like in practice. A patient with a complex cardiac arrhythmia sends us their medical records. Our team reviews the records, identifies the specific procedure required, and cross-references it against our database of cardiac electrophysiology departments. We look at case volume for that specific procedure, not just cardiac surgery in general. We check which hospitals have dedicated arrhythmia centers. We verify that the international department can handle a patient who speaks only English. Only then do we present options.

This is also where our specialty department rankings become useful. If you want to see which hospitals rank among China’s top 10 for oncology or orthopedics, that resource shows you the raw data we work from.

What This Costs — and What Drives the Variance

Vetting and matching are part of our consultation service. The cost depends on what you need.

A written second opinion from a top-tier specialist runs $300 to $500. This gets you a written analysis of your existing medical records by a specialist at a vetted hospital. It is for reference only — not a prescription, not a treatment plan you can hand to any hospital and expect them to follow.

A video consultation with a top specialist costs $500 to $800. You speak directly with the medical team, explain your symptoms and goals, and hear their recommendations. A multidisciplinary team video consultation runs $1,500 to $2,000, which makes sense for complex cancer cases where multiple specialties need to weigh in.

Hospital appointment coordination starts from $300. Our bilingual medical companion service starts from $300 per day. Airport transfer is $200 round-trip. Full VIP end-to-end coordination runs $5,000 to $8,000 for patients who want every logistics detail handled.

Here’s what matters: any consultation fee you pay is credited in full toward on-the-ground coordination if you upgrade within 90 days. So a $500 video consultation becomes a $500 discount on your coordination service. The credit applies to the coordination fee only — never to hospital treatment charges. That’s a one-time credit, and it’s the best way to test our matching process before committing to travel.

Prices vary by hospital and case complexity. We quote ranges, not fixed prices, because no legitimate service can predict your exact treatment cost before a hospital evaluates you.

Practical Considerations: What You Need Before We Can Vet Anything

The screening process works only if we have accurate information about your case. Here’s what that means in practical terms.

Medical records. You need complete, recent records: imaging reports, lab results, pathology reports, discharge summaries, and a list of current medications. Everything should be in English or accompanied by certified translation. Chinese specialists will not review records in a language they cannot read, and machine translation of medical documents is not reliable enough for clinical decisions.

Visa category. Foreign patients traveling to China for medical treatment use the S2 visa, which covers short-term stays for private affairs including medical treatment. If your treatment requires a stay longer than 180 days, you’ll need the S1 visa. Accompanying family members also apply for S2. The hospital’s international department will provide supporting documentation, but approval is always at the discretion of the Chinese embassy or consulate. No one can guarantee visa approval.

Payment reality. Chinese public hospitals require prepayment for major procedures. You pay a deposit before admission, and the hospital deducts from it as services are rendered. Insurance reimbursement happens after the fact — the hospital bills you, you submit to your insurer. Private international hospitals with JCI accreditation often have direct billing arrangements with major insurers, which means the hospital bills your insurance company directly. If you have international health insurance, check whether your policy covers treatment in China and whether your insurer recognizes the specific hospital.

Language. Even at top-tier public hospitals with international departments, the clinical staff may not speak fluent English. The international department coordinator will, but the nurses on the ward might not. This is why bilingual medical companion services exist. A companion handles registration, queueing, payment, directions, and interpretation — the logistics that consume hours of every hospital visit.

Follow-up after returning home. You need a physician in your home country who will accept a translated discharge summary and continue your care. Chinese hospitals can provide these documents, but they need advance notice. We coordinate this before you leave, not after you’re home and realize your local doctor can’t read the records.

Frequently Asked Questions