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This is the capstone of the MedCareInChina Patient Guide series — a single place to answer the questions that recur across all 80 articles. If this is your first visit, treat this article as the entry point. If you have already read the preceding 79 articles, treat it as a recap and an index. Every factual claim here is sourced in the corresponding earlier article.

1. About MedCareInChina’s Service (The Most Important Point)

Q: What do you actually provide?

We have only two products:

  1. Remote Consultation: Single Expert Consultation USD 800 per session; Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) Consultation USD 1,000 per expert across 3–5 experts
  2. In-China Accompanied Care: hospital accompaniment, translation, and workflow coordination during your time in China, priced as a package at USD 2,000–8,000

Q: What do you not do?

  1. We do not file or process visa applications (we do coordinate medical invitation letters)
  2. We do not file insurance reimbursement claims on your behalf
  3. We do not operate a 24-hour emergency response
  4. We do not book flights or high-speed rail tickets on your behalf
  5. We do not process visa extensions or residence permits
  6. We do not issue Fit-to-fly certificates
  7. We do not operate medical repatriation
  8. We do not hold or pass through medical fees — all treatment payments go directly to the hospital
  9. We do not issue Chinese hospital Fapiao — the hospital issues those directly to you
  10. We do not participate in surrogacy, commercial egg sale, cross-border embryo transport, or any other prohibited activity

Q: Do Remote Consultation and In-China Accompanied Care need to be bought together?

No. Remote Consultation can be purchased alone (for a second opinion or treatment plan evaluation). In-China Accompanied Care can be purchased alone (if you have already decided to travel and need only on-the-ground support). Most patients use both.

2. About Costs and Payment

Q: Who do I pay for what?

  1. Remote Consultation fees: paid to MedCareInChina (overseas advisory service; issued as a MedCareInChina service receipt)
  2. In-China Accompanied Care package fees: paid to MedCareInChina
  3. All hospital fees, treatment fees, diagnostic fees, drug fees: paid directly to the hospital (issued as Fapiao)
  4. All accommodation fees: paid directly to the hotel or landlord
  5. All transportation fees: paid by you directly

Q: Can these costs go through insurance?

  1. Remote Consultation fees: typically not reimbursed by international insurance
  2. Hospital treatment fees: may go through insurance (direct billing or self-pay then reimbursement) — see Articles #37–#42
  3. MedCareInChina service fees: typically not reimbursed by insurance

Q: What exchange rate do you use?

The series uses 1 USD = 6.5 RMB as a reference. Actual exchange rates fluctuate daily; final settlement uses the rate on the day of payment.

3. About Preparing to Travel

Q: What is the first step?

  1. Organise your complete medical records (prior reports, imaging, pathology, medications)
  2. Email hello@medcareinchina.com describing your condition
  3. We reply in 1–2 business days indicating whether Remote Consultation is appropriate and which specialty
  4. Remote Consultation (USD 800) → expert opinion
  5. Decide whether to travel

Q: How long does the process take?

  1. Remote Consultation: 2–4 weeks from payment to report
  2. Visa (S2): typically 4–7 business days
  3. End-to-end from decision to arrival in China: typically 6–10 weeks

Q: What materials must I prepare?

  1. Passport (≥ 6 months validity)
  2. Prior medical records (bilingual)
  3. Key imaging DICOM data
  4. Pathology slides or block (if cancer has been diagnosed)
  5. Medication list
  6. Proof of funds (depending on the visa-issuing country)
  7. Marriage certificate (required for IVF patients)

4. About Visas and Length of Stay

Q: Can I use a tourist visa?

Short trips (under 30 days, single consultation) — yes. Longer treatment, follow-up visits, or any situation requiring a formal hospital acceptance letter should use S2.

Q: How do accompanying family apply?

S2 (≤ 180 days) or S1 (> 180 days, requiring authenticated proof of family relationship). See Articles #45 and #48.

Q: How long in China?

Depends on the treatment type:

  1. Short consultation: 1–2 weeks
  2. Major surgery: 3–4 weeks
  3. CAR-T / transplant: 6–12 weeks (including recovery)
  4. Single IVF cycle: 4–6 weeks
  5. Orthodontics / dental implants: split across multiple trips

5. About Hospitals and Physicians

Q: Can you recommend “the best doctor”?

Not “the best” as a single point, but we can recommend physicians with sufficient experience, the right subspecialty, and adequate equipment for your case. All hospital recommendations are based on publicly available academic profile (such as the Fudan Specialty Reputation Ranking), surgical volume, and our coordinated-case experience.

Q: Public vs private — how to choose?

  1. Complex serious illness (cancer, transplant, complex cardiac or neurosurgery) → top public tertiary hospitals
  2. General specialty care with priority on English service and smooth flow → high-end private or public hospital international medical departments
  3. See Article #1 for the full discussion

Q: Can you book a specific top expert?

We do our best to coordinate, but top experts may have waiting times of 2–6 weeks. In some cases, deputy chiefs or attending physicians within the same team have comparable surgical experience with shorter waiting times — we will give honest recommendations.

6. About Treatment Itself

Q: Is Chinese clinical capability really sufficient?

For most mainstream oncology, cardiovascular, transplant, orthopaedic, ophthalmologic, reproductive, and dental indications, leading Chinese centres deliver outcomes comparable to leading Western centres at 25–35% of the cost. See Article #44 (China vs US vs Europe cost comparison) and the subspecialty articles.

Q: When should you not travel to China?

  1. Acute critical illness (stroke, MI, acute paralysis) — seek immediate local care
  2. Extremely rare disease (incidence under 1 in 1,000,000) — Western rare-disease networks are more developed
  3. Stable chronic disease with good control at home — cross-border travel adds no value
  4. Specific newer drugs or devices not yet available in China
  5. Home-country visa or political restrictions

Q: What happens if treatment fails or there is a complication?

  1. Leading Chinese hospitals have complete complication management protocols
  2. Post-discharge remote follow-up is typically available for 6–12 months at no additional fee
  3. Home-country physician willingness to take over long-term follow-up is a critical prerequisite for the decision to travel — confirm before departure

7. About Returning Home

Q: Can I continue Chinese prescriptions at home?

Most medications with a global INN (international non-proprietary name) are available at home (the generic name is the same; brand may differ). A small number of Chinese novel agents require individual evaluation.

Q: Can I claim insurance reimbursement?

Yes — but you handle it yourself. See Article #40. We help ensure the hospital-side documentation is clean. We do not file claims.

Q: What if a post-operative complication appears at home?

  1. Contact your home-country physician first (you must have an established relationship in advance)
  2. Notify the Chinese attending physician for remote consultation in parallel
  3. For emergencies, seek immediate local emergency care

8. About Communication and Translation

Q: How good is the chaperone’s translation?

Our chaperones receive medical English training, but translation does not substitute for your own understanding of the treatment. For all major treatment decisions, we recommend you be present, with written confirmation and full opportunity to ask questions.

Q: How is English at hospital international departments?

At top public hospitals, international department attending physicians generally have functional English; for in-depth medical discussion translation support remains advisable. High-end private hospitals are usually more fluent.

Q: Can you guarantee 100% translation accuracy?

We do our best — medical translation requires verbal plus written confirmation, key orders printed in writing, and drug names labelled by INN plus brand name. But any translation has a margin of error; our process is to minimise, not “eliminate”.

9. About Privacy and Data

Q: Is my medical record safe?

  1. All patient records are transmitted and stored through encrypted channels
  2. Only physicians and coordinators involved in your care can access them
  3. We do not share your information with insurers, governments, or employers without your written authorisation
  4. Chinese regulations on human genetic resources impose specific rules on genomic data — see Article #74

10. A Closing Word

Cross-border medical care is a serious decision, not a romantic journey. It can solve some problems; it cannot solve all of them. What we do — helping you reach an authentic opinion from a leading Chinese specialist, and helping you not get overwhelmed by information and process during your time in China — has boundaries. Within those boundaries we will do our best; outside them, we will tell you who else to call.

For any specific question: hello@medcareinchina.com — we reply within 1–2 business days.

Related Index

  • Service and pricing: Articles #2 and #3
  • Hospital system: Articles #1, #5, #6
  • Insurance and payment: Articles #37–#44
  • Travel and logistics: Articles #45–#52
  • Subspecialty treatment: Articles #11–#36 (oncology), Articles #53–#62 (non-oncology specialties), Articles #63–#70 (chronic disease)
  • Diagnostics and second opinion: Articles #71–#76
  • Special populations: Articles #77, #78
  • Medical repatriation: Article #79

Sources

[1] National Health Commission of China — public regulations and policies: http://www.nhc.gov.cn/ [2] World Health Organization — global health data: https://www.who.int/ [3] The specific sources behind each factual statement in this article are documented in the corresponding sections of the preceding 79 articles