For patients with stable chronic conditions, community clinics can issue up to 12 weeks’ worth of medication at one time

5. For patients with stable chronic conditions, community clinics can issue up to 12 weeks’ worth of medication at one time

Cost: There is no cost involved. Simply ask at your local community health center whether they can issue a long-term prescription.

In plain terms: Individuals whose conditions remain stable and whose medication regimens have not changed can obtain enough medication for 12 weeks from a community health center in one visit. This eliminates the need to travel to a larger hospital each month just to get a prescription and wait in line. Within the same insurance region, reimbursement rates at community-level clinics are typically about 10 percentage points higher than those at higher-tier hospitals.

Benefit: Patients no longer need to make monthly trips to larger hospitals just to obtain prescriptions. In the same insurance region, reimbursement rates at community clinics are generally roughly 10 percentage points higher than at higher-tier hospitals.

Evidence grade: A

Sources: General Office of the State Council of China (2026). Several measures to accelerate the construction of a hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system. <https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202604/content_7065031.htm>: "For eligible patients with chronic diseases, primary medical and health institutions can issue long-term prescriptions for no more than 12 weeks of medication at a time."; The same article "In principle, coordinate the inpatient reimbursement ratio of medical and health institutions in the region to gradually widen the gap of about 10 percentage points", and require higher-level hospitals to open chronic disease outpatient clinics for common diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the grassroots level; the same article "Tertiary hospitals should focus on acute, severe and difficult and complex diseases, strengthen referral consultation and inpatient services, and gradually reduce the number of follow-up visits for common diseases and general outpatient clinics for chronic diseases with clear diagnoses and stable conditions", "and extend the general outpatient clinics of expert teams to grassroots medical and health institutions."

Notes: Whether a patient meets the criteria is determined by the physician; generally, this applies to individuals with a confirmed diagnosis and a stable medication regimen. The actual medication remains the same; what is saved is the time and cost of monthly trips to the hospital and associated fees. If a specific medication is unavailable at a community clinic, patients can inquire about medication shortage registries and delivery services. The same policy also calls for tertiary hospitals to gradually reduce routine outpatient services for such chronic conditions, with those services being transferred to community clinics instead. Relying on larger hospitals solely for prescription refills will become increasingly difficult in the future.