For common illnesses, patients should first visit community clinics; referrals then proceed stepwise to larger hospitals, after which the hospital deductible is calculated only once.

1. For common illnesses, patients should first visit community clinics; referrals then proceed stepwise to larger hospitals, after which the hospital deductible is calculated only once.

Cost: No expense is required. You must first make a trip to a community clinic. The hard part is resisting the urge to book an appointment with a specialist right away.

In plain terms: Start by going to a community clinic, which will then refer you to a larger hospital for inpatient care. The amount you pay out-of-pocket at the start is counted only once. If you go directly to a tertiary hospital for admission and later return to a community clinic for recovery, you might have to pay that amount twice. However, if a larger hospital refers you back to a community clinic for continued treatment, the deductible is not recalculated for the same condition during that period.

Benefit: Insured patients who follow this stepwise referral process can have their hospital deductible accumulated across multiple facilities. The deductible represents the portion of each hospitalization you must pay personally before insurance coverage kicks in. Accumulation means that the total paid at both the community clinic and the larger hospital counts as a single deductible amount, so you do not have to pay it again. For patients transferred from a larger hospital back to a community clinic, no additional deductible is applied for the same illness during that timeframe.

Evidence grade: A

Sources: General Office of the State Council of China (2026). Several measures to speed up the construction of a hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system. <https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202604/content_7065031.htm>: "For insured patients who are referred step by step by primary medical and health institutions in the coordinated area, the hospitalization deductible line at the higher-level hospital can be calculated continuously; For inpatients transferred from higher-level hospitals to grassroots medical and health institutions, there will no longer be a separate hospitalization deductible within the same disease cycle. "

Notes: The deductible is the amount you pay out-of-pocket per hospitalization before insurance begins to reimburse costs. If you go directly to a tertiary hospital for admission and later return to a community clinic for recovery, you may end up paying this amount twice. Following the proper referral pathway ensures it is calculated only once. Specific referral rules are determined individually by each province, city, and medical consortium. Be sure to ask your community clinic about these rules before seeking care.