China Hospital DirectoryA guide on the Shanghai government English site, updated May 26, 2026, says that after arriving at the hospital, the patient should first register (guahao) at the admission desk and pay an admission fee.
Terms at the hospital window
Guahao, binglika, chufang and yaofang
The Shanghai guide says the patient will get a hospital card (binglika) if he/she has not been to the clinic before.
The guide says that after the doctor gives a prescription (chufang), the patient needs to pay the fee and then can get the medicine from the hospital pharmacy (yaofang).
Insurance terms
Yibao
The national healthcare security statistical bulletin on the National Healthcare Security Administration site, in Chinese, abbreviates 基本医疗保险 as 基本医保 (basic medical insurance).
The bulletin abbreviates 城乡居民基本医疗保险 as 居民医保 (urban and rural resident basic medical insurance).
The bulletin uses 职工医保 for employee basic medical insurance.
In pinyin these are jiben yibao, jumin yibao and zhigong yibao, and yibao is the common short form of the Chinese words for medical insurance.
Menzhen and zhuyuan
In its lines on benefits received by employee-insured persons, the bulletin counts 普通门急诊 (ordinary outpatient and emergency visits), 门诊慢特病 (outpatient chronic and special disease treatment), 住院 (inpatient hospital stays) and 药店购药 (purchases of medicine at pharmacies).
In pinyin, menzhen means outpatient, zhuyuan means an inpatient stay, and yaodian gouyao means buying medicine at a pharmacy.
Tongchou jijin and geren zhanghu
The bulletin splits employee insurance fund lines into 统筹基金 (pooled fund) and 个人账户 (personal account).
The pinyin forms are tongchou jijin and geren zhanghu.
Yaopin mulu
The bulletin says the 2025 edition of the national basic medical insurance, work-related injury insurance and maternity insurance drug catalogue (an English rendering of the Chinese title) lists 3253 Western medicines and Chinese patent medicines in total.
The pinyin for the drug catalogue is yaopin mulu.
Yidi jiuyi and dingdian yiyao jigou
The bulletin counts 异地就医 (medical treatment in a place other than the insured place), and its lines on settlement across provinces use 跨省直接结算 (direct settlement across provinces) and 定点医药机构 (designated medical and pharmaceutical institutions).
The pinyin forms are yidi jiuyi, kuasheng zhijie jiesuan and dingdian yiyao jigou.
Questions people ask
What does the Shanghai guide say guahao refers to?
The guide says the patient should first register (guahao) at the admission desk and pay an admission fee.
What does 住院 mean in the bulletin's benefit lines?
The bulletin counts 住院 (inpatient hospital stays) among its benefit lines.
What does 个人账户 refer to in the bulletin's fund lines?
The bulletin splits employee insurance fund lines into 统筹基金 (pooled fund) and 个人账户 (personal account).
Sources
- How to see a doctor at a local hospital (Shanghai government English site), read 26 October 2026
- 2025 national healthcare security statistical bulletin, 全国医疗保障事业发展统计公报 (National Healthcare Security Administration, Chinese-language), read 26 October 2026
Each source above was read on the date shown. This page is an unofficial summary of general administrative information. It is not published by the bodies named above, and it is not medical advice. If it differs from the official pages, the official pages prevail, and rules may change after the check date.
Entry facts come from the hospital’s own pages as read on the dates shown in each source note; this unofficial summary is not medical advice, and the hospital’s current published information prevails. Medical and legal notice