The National Health Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued the "Work Plan for Expanding the Opening-up of Wholly Foreign-Owned Hospitals"

Notice on Issuing the Pilot Work Plan for Expanding Opening-up in the Field of Wholly Foreign-Owned Hospitals

Health and Health Commissions, Commerce Departments, Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureaus, and Disease Control Bureaus of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, and Hainan Provinces:
In order to implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and promote the orderly expansion of opening-up in the medical field, the National Health and Health Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Disease Control Bureau have formulated the "Pilot Work Plan for Expanding Opening-up in the Field of Wholly Foreign-Owned Hospitals". It is now issued to you. Please organize and implement it carefully.

National Health and Health Commission      Ministry of Commerce

State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine    National Disease Control Bureau

November 1, 2024

(Information disclosure form: proactive disclosure)

Pilot Work Plan for Expanding Opening-up in the Field of Wholly Foreign-Owned Hospitals

This plan is specially formulated to implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and promote the orderly expansion of opening-up in the medical field.

I. General requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will fully implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, coordinate development and security, promote orderly opening up in the medical field, allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals on a pilot basis, introduce high-level international medical resources, enrich the domestic medical service supply, optimize the business environment, and provide diversified medical services for the people and foreigners in China. At the same time, we will further strengthen risk prevention, improve in-process and post-process supervision measures, and ensure that the pilot work is smooth and orderly.

II. Pilot tasks

It is allowed to establish wholly foreign-owned hospitals (except for traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, excluding mergers and acquisitions of public hospitals) in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and the entire island of Hainan.

III. Pilot conditions

(I) Investment subject conditions. Foreign investors applying to establish wholly foreign-owned hospitals shall be legal persons who can independently bear civil liability, have direct or indirect experience in medical and health investment and management, and meet the following conditions:

1. Able to provide internationally advanced hospital management concepts, management models and service models;

2. Able to provide internationally leading medical technology and equipment;

3. Able to supplement or improve local deficiencies in medical service capabilities, medical technology and medical facilities, and expand the diversified service supply pattern.

(II) Establishment and operation conditions. Wholly foreign-owned hospitals shall be established and operated in accordance with the Basic Medical and Health Care and Health Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China, the Biosafety Law of the People's Republic of China, the Data Security Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on the Administration of Medical Institutions, the Regulations on the Administration of Human Genetic Resources of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations, and meet the following conditions:

1. The nature of the hospital's operation can be for-profit or non-profit;

2. The hospital category is a general hospital, a specialist hospital, or a rehabilitation hospital, and the hospital level is three-level. Psychiatric hospitals, infectious disease hospitals, hematology hospitals, traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, traditional Chinese and Western medicine combined hospitals, and ethnic minority medicine hospitals shall not be established;

3. The hospital's diagnosis and treatment subjects shall not be registered as hematology;

4. Medical Hospitals shall not carry out medical and ethical risk-related diagnosis and treatment activities, mainly including: human organ transplantation technology, human assisted reproductive technology, prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis technology, psychiatric hospitalization, experimental treatment of new tumor cell therapy technologies, etc.;

5. Hospitals are allowed to employ foreign doctors, doctors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and other health professionals from Hong Kong and Macao for short-term practice in accordance with regulations, and the proportion of Chinese (mainland) personnel in hospital management and health professionals shall not be less than 50%;

6. Hospital information management systems shall be connected to the local medical service supervision platform, and electronic medical records, medical equipment and other information storage servers shall be located in my country;

7. Hospitals that meet the relevant medical insurance regulations may apply to be included in the medical insurance designated points according to procedures. At the same time, support hospitals to connect with domestic and foreign commercial health insurance.

IV. Management measures

Local health and health administrative departments shall perform their access and in-process and post-process management responsibilities for wholly foreign-owned hospitals in accordance with the law. Wholly foreign-owned hospitals shall carry out diagnosis and treatment activities in accordance with the law and strengthen self-management.

(I) Access management. The establishment approval and practice registration of wholly foreign-owned hospitals shall be reviewed by the prefecture-level health and health administrative departments and then submitted to the provincial health and health administrative departments for review. If the conditions are met, the provincial health and health administrative departments shall issue the approval letter for the establishment of medical institutions and the medical institution practice license. The relevant procedures, application materials and processing periods for establishment approval and practice registration shall refer to the "Interim Measures for the Management of Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures and Cooperative Medical Institutions" and the "Notice of the Ministry of Health on Adjusting the Approval Authority of Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures and Cooperative Medical Institutions". The medical institution practice license of a wholly foreign-owned hospital is valid for 5 years and can be renewed in accordance with regulations before the expiration of the validity period. If the conditions are met, the medical institution practice license shall be reissued.

(II) Practice management. The health and health administrative departments shall include wholly foreign-owned hospitals in the scope of medical quality and safety management and encourage wholly foreign-owned hospitals to participate in hospital review and evaluation. Wholly foreign-owned hospitals shall operate and manage in accordance with relevant Chinese laws and regulations, and carry out diagnosis and treatment activities in accordance with relevant requirements such as clinical diagnosis and treatment guidelines, clinical technical operation specifications and industry standards, and medical ethics specifications.

(III) Supervision and management. The relevant provincial and prefecture-level health and health administrative departments shall perform their local supervision responsibilities in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations according to specific matters.

V. Organization and Implementation

The relevant provincial health and health administrative departments shall formulate specific work plans in conjunction with the commerce, traditional Chinese medicine, disease control and other departments, and report them to the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Commerce before the end of December 2024. The local health and health administrative departments shall strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of the operation of wholly foreign-owned hospitals, establish a collaborative management mechanism with relevant departments, and promptly study and solve the key and difficult problems encountered in the pilot. In case of major situations, they shall be reported to the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Commerce in a timely manner. If the original regulations are inconsistent with this pilot plan, this plan shall prevail.