Four departments in Shanghai issue pilot scheme to allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals
Recently, the Pilot Scheme for Deepening the Opening-up of Foreign-invested Hospitals in Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as the Scheme) jointly formulated by the Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission, the Shanghai Municipal Commerce Commission, the Shanghai Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Shanghai Municipal Disease Prevention and Control Bureau was issued to promote the expansion of openness in Shanghai’s healthcare sector. The Scheme specifies the pilot scope, number, and conditions, as well as clearly defines access management and approval time limits.
The Scheme explicitly allows the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in Shanghai (excluding Chinese medicine hospitals and excluding mergers and acquisitions of public hospitals). It encourages the establishment of such hospitals in pilot areas with expanded openness, such as free trade trial zones, Lingang New Area, Hongqiao Business District, and East Asia Hub International Business District, as well as in areas with biomedical industry clusters and central cities with a concentration of foreigners. In principle, no more than two foreign-invested hospitals are allowed to be set up within a single special functional area or foreigner gathering area.
Regarding pilot conditions, the Scheme specifies that the foreign investors applying for the establishment of a wholly foreign-owned hospital should be legal persons that can independently bear civil liability, and have direct or indirect experience in medical and health investment and management. They should also be able to provide internationally advanced hospital management concepts, management models, and service models, as well as leading medical technologies and equipment, and supplement or improve local deficiencies in medical service capabilities, medical technologies, and medical facilities to expand the diversified service supply pattern.
The Scheme also clarifies the establishment and operational conditions for foreign-invested hospitals. These hospitals should be established and operated in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and their categories should be general hospitals, specialized hospitals, or rehabilitation hospitals. Their levels should be tertiary hospitals. They are not allowed to establish psychiatry hospitals, infectious disease hospitals, blood disease hospitals, Chinese medicine hospitals, integrated Chinese and Western medicine hospitals, or ethnic minority medicine hospitals.
The hospital’s diagnosis subjects are not allowed to register hematology departments, and are not allowed to conduct high-risk medical and ethical treatment activities, including human organ transplantation technology, human reproductive technology, prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis technology, mental hospital inpatient treatment, and new cellular therapy experimental treatment for tumor cells.
The Scheme also allows hospitals to employ foreign doctors, doctors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and other health professionals from Hong Kong and Macao for short-term practice. The proportion of Chinese (mainland) personnel in hospital management and health professional technical personnel must not be less than 50%. The hospital information management system should be connected to the city or district medical service supervision platform, and the information storage server for electronic medical records and medical equipment should be located within China. Hospitals that meet the relevant provisions of insurance can apply for inclusion in the insurance program. At the same time, hospitals are encouraged to connect with commercial health insurance both domestically and internationally.
In terms of access management, the Scheme states that foreign-invested hospitals should comply with regional health plans. The setting-up approval and practice registration are implemented in accordance with the Interim Measures for the Management of Sino-Foreign Joint Medical Institutions and the Notice of the Ministry of Health on Adjusting the Approval Authority for Sino-Foreign Joint Medical Institutions. Foreign-invested hospitals are initially reviewed by the district health commission. Those that meet the requirements will be issued with a “Setting Approval Certificate for Medical Institutions” and a “License for Medical Practice” by the municipal health commission.
In terms of approval time limits, for applications to set up foreign-invested hospitals, the district health commission completes the initial review within 10 working days; the municipal health commission makes an approval decision within 20 working days and issues a “Setting Approval Certificate for Medical Institutions” to those that meet the requirements. For applications for practice registration of foreign-invested hospitals, the municipal health commission makes an approval decision within 45 working days and issues a “License for Medical Practice” to those that meet the conditions.
