Treatment first, pay later

For patients who are unable to receive treatment because of their inability to pay the required deposit prior to hospitalization, things are expected to change for the better following the health authorities' fresh efforts to improve the health service.

Public health authorities are looking to extend a "treatment first, pay later" system for both outpatients and inpatients that has been successfully piloted in some parts of the country, such as eastern Shandong province and northwestern Qinghai province.

Under the new approach, the medical expenses of outpatients will first be covered by the hospital and then settled by the patients' medical insurers, while inpatients will need to offer healthcare insurance cards or other certificates and sign a settlement agreement with the hospital before they are admitted.