Seeing a Doctor in China: How Appointments, Payment and Medical Records Work

For a planned outpatient visit, the Shanghai official local-hospital guide describes a sequence: check appointment options, register with your passport on arrival, wait for your consultation number, see the clinician, pay before certain tests or medicines, and keep the paperwork if you intend to claim from an insurer (Shanghai Municipal People's Government).

The important qualifier: every one of those steps is documented here from a specific city or a specific hospital, not from a national rulebook. Treat them as worked examples and confirm your own hospital's version before you rely on it.

This is administrative navigation, not clinical advice. It does not tell you which hospital or department you need, and it does not interpret symptoms.

Start with the emergency exception

If the situation is an emergency, the routine outpatient sequence does not apply. Beijing's official medical guide for foreigners identifies 120 as the mainland emergency medical number (Beijing Municipal People's Government). Use the local emergency service rather than working through appointment and registration steps.

Separately, Peking Union Medical College Hospital states that it runs its own 24-hour emergency service (PUMCH). That is one hospital's service, not a guarantee about emergency access elsewhere. If a hospital near you advertises emergency care, confirm it on that hospital's own official channel rather than assuming the PUMCH example transfers.

Booking: the channel belongs to the hospital, or to the city

The supplied evidence does not establish a single national outpatient booking app. The booking routes documented are local:

• PUMCH describes English-language online booking through its own site, or booking through its bilingual app, for international patients (PUMCH).
• Beijing describes the Beijing 114 outpatient appointment service, available through the city's mini-program, with an English version (Beijing Municipal People's Government).
• Shanghai gives the Suishenban app as its local online appointment example, and describes appointment verification by SMS (Shanghai Municipal People's Government).

The practical consequence: for a non-urgent visit, start at the particular hospital's official channel — its website, its own app, or the city service it participates in — and check what it asks for at the moment of booking. Whether an English interface exists, whether a passport or another ID number is required to create the account, and whether the appointment is confirmed by SMS are all set by that hospital or city service. PUMCH's English booking is a named example of language support, not a standard.

Arrival: registration, hospital card, and waiting for your number

Shanghai's guide describes what happens on arrival at a local hospital: registration using your passport, the possibility that you will be issued a hospital card, and then waiting until your consultation number is called before seeing the clinician (Shanghai Municipal People's Government).

Two variables matter here.

Identity documents. Carry the original passport you used to book. A hospital card appears in Shanghai's description as a possibility, not a certainty, and the guide does not describe it as a national requirement. Some hospitals may issue one; others may not.

The number system. Shanghai's sequence has you waiting for your number after registration. Check with the hospital how a booked time relates to arrival and consultation.

Payment: you may pay before the test, not after

One step to plan for is the ordering of payment. Shanghai's guide describes paying before certain tests or medicines are provided (Shanghai Municipal People's Government). So a consultation that leads to a lab test or a prescription can involve a separate payment transaction before that test or medicine happens.

Which payment methods are accepted is set locally. Beijing's guide lists payment methods for its international-patient context, and its hospital and service listings are Beijing-specific (Beijing Municipal People's Government). Do not carry that list to another city, and do not assume a given card brand works everywhere — verify accepted payment with the hospital ahead of a non-urgent visit.

Direct billing is an arrangement, not a feature. Beijing's guide states that direct billing depends on whether your insurer has a signed arrangement with that medical institution (Beijing Municipal People's Government). Without a confirmed direct-billing arrangement, ask the hospital and insurer how payment and any later claim will work. Confirm accepted payment methods and the documents you may need for a claim before a planned visit.

Records: what to keep, and who decides the list

Shanghai's handbook for international students advises checking with your insurer, before care, about coverage, the provider network, and whether your policy works by direct payment or by pay-then-claim (Shanghai Municipal People's Government). For reimbursement or follow-up, it identifies medical records, fee lists and official invoices as commonly retained documents, while noting that what is actually required is insurer-specific.

Read that carefully: the city guide names a common set, and explicitly hands the final decision to your insurer. So the working rule is to ask your insurer for its document list, then make sure the hospital gives you every item on it before you leave the building — the insurer can tell you which documents to request before leaving the hospital.

If you are a student, your institution may layer its own requirements on top of the insurer's. The Shanghai handbook is written for that student context and is not a nationwide hospital mandate.

What does not generalize

Each of the following is documented for one city or one hospital and should be re-checked for yours:

• A hospital card: appears in Shanghai's local-hospital guide only.
• An online appointment app: Suishenban (Shanghai), Beijing 114 (Beijing), PUMCH's own site and bilingual app — each is local or institutional.
• Deposit or payment timing: Shanghai describes paying before certain tests or medicines; that is Shanghai's description.
• Accepted payment methods: Beijing's list applies to its international-patient context.
• Direct billing: conditional on an insurer's arrangement with the institution, per Beijing.
• English-language booking and 24-hour emergency service: PUMCH's own service.
• Prices, waiting times, reimbursement outcomes and language support: not established by these sources at all.

A practical pre-visit routine

These are suggestions, not rules:

1. Identify the hospital through its own official channel and check how it books appointments.
2. Ask your insurer whether that hospital is in-network and whether direct payment applies there.
3. Ask your insurer for its exact claim document list.
4. Take your original passport, plus any hospital card or registration details you already hold.
5. Confirm accepted payment methods with the hospital before a non-urgent visit.
6. After the visit, keep the medical record, the fee list and the official invoice together, and store them where you can retrieve them months later.

Sources and verification

All four pages below are government or hospital primary sources, opened 2026-09-28. Re-check them before acting, since procedures and listings change at the hospital level.

• Shanghai Municipal People's Government — How to see a doctor at a local hospital (updated 2026-05-26): registration with passport, possible hospital card, waiting for the consultation number, payment before certain tests or medicines, Suishenban appointment example with SMS verification. https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Individuals-Healthcare-TreatmentServices/20260805/d57788398d424f318a5d18610ee035db.html
• Beijing Municipal People's Government — Medical Guide for Foreigners in Beijing: 120 as the mainland emergency number, Beijing 114 outpatient appointments via the city mini-program, payment methods in its international-patient context, direct billing conditional on an insurer's arrangement with the institution. https://english.beijing.gov.cn/quickguideservices/medicalguide/
• Peking Union Medical College Hospital — Foreign Patients Seeking Medical Treatment (updated 2025-10-11): English-site online booking or bilingual app for international patients; its own 24-hour emergency service. https://www.pumch.cn/en/detail/43295.html
• Shanghai Municipal People's Government — An essential handbook for international students seeking medical care in Shanghai (2025-11-17): check insurer coverage, network and direct payment versus reimbursement before care; retain medical records, fee lists and official invoices; required documents are insurer-specific. https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-FAQs-StudyinShanghai/20251117/3af488ff7a7c4d5a82f43ad166321431.html

Where the evidence runs out: these sources cover Shanghai, Beijing and one named hospital. Nothing here establishes a nationwide appointment system, uniform payment practice, universal English-language booking, or a standard document set. For a hospital outside these examples, ask that hospital directly through its official channel about booking, accepted payment and insurance arrangements; for coverage, network and claim documents, ask your insurer, which is the authority on what it will reimburse. This article makes no individual legal, tax, medical or insurance determination.