Every fact about a hospital in our guides comes from the hospital's own WeChat official account. Rules and official prices come from the Chinese government body that sets them. For each fact, we keep the link, the date and the exact sentence. When a hospital does not publish something, we say so. This page explains how we check, order, review and correct the information on Alifa Health.
Where our facts come from
Chinese hospitals post their current news on their WeChat official accounts. Their websites are often out of date. For this reason, our guides use the hospital's own WeChat account as the source for every hospital fact.
For each fact, we keep three things. These are the permanent link to the article, the date it was published and the exact sentence that states the fact. A hospital website is not used as evidence in these guides.
We also check that each account really belongs to the hospital. A person opens the account's registration page on a phone. This page shows which organisation owns the account. We use the account only when the owner is the hospital itself, and we do this check once for each account.
Government facts come from the government body's own website or its own WeChat account. These facts include lists of national and provincial specialties, price notices, visa rules and insurance rules.
How we handle prices
We do not research treatment prices hospital by hospital.
Each province in China publishes official price ceilings for hospital services. A ceiling is the highest price a public hospital may charge for an item. We copy these ceilings from the province's official price notice. We show them on one fees page for each province.
International departments and special clinics set their own prices. Their prices can be higher than the ceilings. We do not know which price class each hospital uses, so we do not say. For the exact fee, check with the hospital before you go, or ask Alifa Health for a price quote.
Hospital names and hospital tables
We name every hospital in English and in Chinese. Both names are copied exactly from our hospital register of 1,766 Class 3A hospitals. Class 3A (三级甲等) is the highest grade of hospital in China. We never translate, shorten or change these names. You can show the Chinese name to a taxi driver or type it into a map.
Our hospital tables follow fixed order rules. First, hospitals are put into three tiers. Tier A has a national designation for the treating department on an official page. Tier B publishes how many operations it does for the condition. Tier C publishes only that it has the department.
Inside each tier, hospitals are ordered by their International Readiness Score, from high to low. When two scores are equal, we order the hospitals by their English name, from A to Z. The table below shows how the score is made.
The score shows what each hospital publishes for a patient from abroad. It does not measure the quality of care, the results of treatment or safety. A score of 0 means the hospital publishes none of these items. Our tables are not a ranking, and we never call them one.
| What the hospital publishes | Points |
|---|---|
| The hospital has an international department or a special-needs department (特需部), confirmed on its own account | 2 |
| The hospital names the languages its staff can use with patients | 1 |
| The hospital publishes a contact for patients from abroad | 1 |
| The hospital says it accepts bank cards or bills insurers directly | 1 |
Who reviews our pages
Dr. Arif Shah, MBBS, reviews the guides that compare hospitals. These are the hospital tables, the guides to which treatments are available and the health check-up guides.
In these guides, he reviews the medical decisions. He also checks that each medical term is explained correctly in plain English. He then signs off the guide. Before he signs, our checking process opens every cited source again and matches it with the text. Dr. Arif does not read every sentence on the page. A line near the end of each reviewed guide shows his name and the date of his review.
The Alifa Health Editorial Team compiles our practical guides and our reference tables. Dr. Arif does not review them. He also does not review the hospital profiles, the city pages or this page. The province fees pages are not reviewed either. A script copies their numbers from the official government notice.
Hospital profiles and patient tips
Each hospital profile is made from a fixed template.
Many profiles have a section called "Practical tips". These tips come from public patient forums. They are patients' own reports. They are not statements by the hospital, and they are not official or government information.
Sometimes a tip mentions a fee. That fee is what one patient said they paid, and we show the year of the report. It is not an official price. The official price ceilings are on the province fees pages.
When a fact is not published
Sometimes a page says "Not published by the hospital". This means we searched the hospital's own official channels and did not find the fact. It does not mean that the hospital does not offer the service. Please ask the hospital, or ask us to check for you.
Sometimes a question stays open after all our checks. We do not hide it. We name it in the box at the end of the page, so you can see what we could not confirm.
Corrections and sponsored cards
Every page shows the date its data was verified. When a fact changes after a page goes live, we correct the same page. The box at the end of the page then says what changed. For example, it may say: "An earlier version said X. The source now shows Y. Corrected on (date)."
If you find an error, please email enquiry@alifahealth.com. Please send the page link and the source that shows the error. We will check the source and correct the page if it is wrong.
Some pages may carry a sponsored card. A sponsored card is always labelled "Sponsored". It says that it is a paid placement and not part of our research. It never appears inside a table or a fact section. Sponsors cannot buy a place in any table.
Who we are and how we are paid
Alifa Health is an information and travel-assistance service. It is not a hospital or a medical provider. It does not give medical advice.
Alifa Concierge Services is arranged by Alifa Health directly. Any referral relationship with a hospital or a company is stated on the page that it concerns.
Alifa Health is run by Alifa Technology, Beijing, China.
Common questions
Is a hospital table a ranking?
No, it is not a ranking. The order follows fixed rules about what each hospital publishes. It does not compare the quality of care at the hospitals.
Does "Not published by the hospital" mean the hospital does not offer it?
No, it only means we did not find it on the hospital's own official channels. The hospital may still offer it.
Why do your guides not use hospital websites?
Most Chinese hospitals update their WeChat official accounts, not their websites. A WeChat article also shows the date it was published.
Can a hospital pay to appear in a table?
No, a hospital cannot buy a place in any table. Paid content appears only in a card that is labelled "Sponsored".
Is Alifa Health a medical provider?
No, Alifa Health is an information and travel-assistance service. Please talk to a doctor about your treatment.