Understand what hospitals charge for medical care, what VitalBridge charges for coordination, and how to request a written estimate for your case.
Paid by you directly to the hospital. May include consultations, tests, procedures, medicines and hospital stay, depending on the written estimate you receive before you travel. Final medical costs are determined by the treating hospital.
Paid to VitalBridge for agreed coordination services. Our fees are separate from hospital charges and listed in full below, so you know the cost before deciding to proceed.
Our fees are explained in advance. Any additional third-party costs will be disclosed before you proceed.
| Service | Fee | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Case Review | Free | We review the information you provide and explain the possible next steps — before you spend anything. We do not diagnose: any clinical opinion you receive is the treating clinician’s own. |
| Second OpinionStep 2 · optional but strongly recommended | $500 | A senior specialist at one of our partner hospitals studies your complete records and gives their view in writing — the same kind of expert assessment you would receive in a face-to-face consultation, except that there is no physical examination and no hospital file is opened. It is a professional clinical opinion; it is not a full diagnosis, and we never present it as one. Delivered within 3–5 working days of payment. The consultation is recorded in full: the audio is always recorded continuously and in its entirety, and video is recorded where the treating physician consents to being filmed. Where a physician does not consent to filming, that portion has no video — so the video record may have a gap — but the audio stays continuous and complete throughout. The opinion is then compiled into a written summary in English (or your chosen language), unaltered. Credited in full toward Case Processing if you continue. |
| Case Processing | $2,000 | Coordination with the relevant hospital departments: identifying and recommending the center best suited to your case, confirming its costs in writing, appointment planning and admission scheduling. Starts after payment is received. |
| ICL Lens Implantation — all-inrefractive vision correction, not a cosmetic procedure | $1,000one flat fee, nothing added | One flat fee covering the whole engagement for this procedure — the case work described above, plus appointment booking, interpreter on treatment days and a written English summary. No separate case-processing charge is added. |
| Treatment Coordination — Surgery | $3,500 | On-the-ground coordination for surgical cases: admission, interpreter accompaniment on every hospital day in the treatment plan — no limit on days or consultations — plus discharge and follow-up planning. |
| Treatment Coordination — Therapy CourseCAR-T · proton · heavy-ion | $5,000 | Longer-course coordination for multi-week therapy: admission, interpreter and practical support for the whole treatment period, including every consultation the treating team requires — no limit on days or sessions, at no extra charge. |
| Treatment Coordination — Complex Cases | $6,500 | Multi-department or high-complexity cases. Quoted in advance. |
| Coordination fee timing | 5 days | Due on the day your flight ticket is issued, and no later than 5 days before departure. |
| Follow-up visit or medication trip | $750 / trip | One flat fee per trip, covering the round trip, the doctor's appointment booked in advance with the date secured before you travel, registration, and an interpreter with you throughout. Medication and any treatment you receive are paid by you directly to the hospital — we charge nothing beyond the $750. |
| Recurrence / further treatment | 50% off | Repeat coordination charged at half the original coordination fee. |
| Comprehensive Health Screening — all-infull-day executive check-up | $300one flat fee, nothing added | One flat fee covering the whole engagement — appointment booking, pickup and transfer to the screening centre, accompaniment on the day, and transfer to your hotel or the airport afterwards, plus a written English report summary. No separate case-processing charge is added. |
How to pay our fees: the Second Opinion ($500) and the health-screening totals (Entry $1,367 / Flagship $2,297 — program price plus our $300 coordination fee) are paid online on this website by card at checkout; for screening bookings we then settle the program fee with the screening center on your behalf. Our larger fees — Case Processing ($2,000, or $1,500 with the Second Opinion credit), the Treatment Coordination fees ($3,500–6,500) and the $750 follow-up trip — are paid by bank transfer to VitalBridge's corporate account; we email you the account details and a written invoice. This is our standard policy. Every hospital charge — deposit, balance or full treatment cost — is paid by you directly to the hospital's own account, never to us.
Flights, hotels, visas, travel insurance and your hospital bill are paid by you directly to the providers — we never handle your medical money. Interpreter accompaniment is included for the whole of your hospital treatment plan, with no cap on the number of days or consultations. Any additional third-party service is quoted to you and agreed before it is arranged. Our fees are business prices of VitalBridge, not medical tariffs.
These terms apply to VitalBridge fees only. Medical charges are paid by you directly to the hospital and are governed by that hospital's own written policy.
| Situation | What you pay |
|---|---|
| Before payment, or before we begin work | Nothing. If you have paid and we have not started, both the Case Processing fee and any coordination fee are refunded in full. |
| Case Processing already under wayrecords submitted to hospitals | The $2,000 Case Processing fee is not refundable once your records have been submitted, because that work has been carried out. A Treatment Coordination fee is a separate charge: if you have paid one and we have not carried out that coordination work, any unused part of it is refunded. The visa-refusal and medical-refusal cases below still apply. |
| Treatment not possible for medical reasonsafter a hospital has accepted your case, refusal on arrival arises only if on-site examination or initial test results differ materially from the records you submitted, or your condition changes significantly within a short period | The Case Processing fee is not refunded — your records have been submitted, hospital cost estimates obtained and appointments scheduled. You are not left to manage this alone: we stay on your case, re-plan with the treating team and help arrange an alternative specialist centre. If we cannot arrange treatment at another suitable centre for you, the Treatment Coordination fee is refunded in full. Only third-party costs already paid on your behalf (interpretation, visa fees, booking costs) are deducted, against receipts. |
| Visa refusedwritten refusal from the consulate | Any deposit or payment you have made to the hospital is refunded in full — no treatment has taken place — and we help you obtain that refund. A Treatment Coordination fee, if you have paid one, is refunded in full by us. The Case Processing fee is not refunded: your records have been submitted, hospital cost estimates obtained and appointments scheduled. In practice we have not yet had a case where a visa was refused. |
| You cancel for your own reasons | More than 14 days before departure: 50% of the Treatment Coordination fee is refunded. Within 14 days of departure: the Treatment Coordination fee is not refunded. In both cases the Case Processing fee is not refundable once your records have been submitted (see above). |
| Hospital changes the dates, or treatment is postponed | We re-coordinate at no additional coordination fee. |
| Second opinion review | Not refundable once the written review has been delivered — but credited in full toward Case Processing if you continue. |
| Light procedures — ICL or health screening | The flat fee ($1,000 for ICL, $300 for screening) is refundable in full before we begin work on your case. Once appointments have been booked and confirmed, 50% is refunded if you cancel more than 14 days before the appointment. The visa-refusal and medical-refusal terms above apply unchanged. |
We do not receive, hold or refund your medical payments. Hospital bills are paid by you directly to the hospital, and refunds or adjustments of medical charges follow the hospital's own written policy. Nothing in this section limits any right you have under applicable law.
Diagnosis and stage determine which treatments are appropriate.
Surgery, radiotherapy course or cell therapy have very different cost structures.
International-department service levels differ between hospitals; quotes make this visible.
Room category, length of stay and companion arrangements.
These rows combine two different kinds of number: prices that a named center or government schedule has actually published, and estimates we derived from published fees plus cross-checked international-patient quotes. They are indicative references for orientation, not quotations — the written estimate you receive from the treating hospital is the final number. Scope and unit differ by row, so read the note in each line. Where no reliable public price exists for a treatment, we say so rather than presenting an unsupported range.
| Treatment & scope | China (international dept.) | United States (reference) | Source & last checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAR-T cell therapyadult myeloma & pediatric B-ALL — full episode | from ≈ $170,000 all-in reported range $150,000 – 230,000 | $550,000 – 850,000reported case cost; drug list prices alone $373k – 475k | Reported case costs, Wall Street Journal, Sep 2026 — China $150,000 – 230,000 vs US $550,000 – 850,000. China drug list prices for five approved products ($137,000 – 179,000). Last checked Oct 2026 |
| Proton therapyper course | $30,000 – 50,000 Shanghai center: course ≈ $39,000 · total hospitalization ≈ $46,000 | $100,000 – 200,000reported range | Named-center published package pricing (Shanghai). Last checked Oct 2026 |
| Carbon-ion therapyper course — single lesion | $35,000 – 60,000 | Not offered | Written estimate from a heavy-ion center's international department (summarized below) — not a public rate card. Oct 2026 |
| Heart bypass (CABG)one procedure, inpatient | $12,000 – 22,000 | ≈ $75,000 median patient out-of-pocket, insured patients · 544-hospital US study, 2024 | Physician-published local fees × international-department factor, cross-checked against international-patient quotes. Last checked 2025–26 |
| Heart valve surgery± combined CABG | $21,000 – 42,000 single valve from ≈ $18,000 | $45,000 – 200,000cash-pay to billed charges | Published local fees × factor; 5 international-patient quotes converge. Last checked 2025–26 |
| Knee replacementimplant and hospital stay | $9,000 – 16,000 | ≈ $49,500 avg. without insurance | Public procurement implant prices + 4 international-patient quotes. Last checked 2025–26 |
| Hip replacementimplant and hospital stay | $9,000 – 16,000 | ≈ $49,500 avg. without insurance | Public procurement implant prices + 4 international-patient quotes. Last checked 2025–26 |
| Spinal fusionsingle level | $12,000 – 28,000 Guangzhou typically $8,000 – 14,000 | $80,000 – 150,000 | 4 international-department quotes; Guangzhou typically below Beijing/Shanghai. Last checked 2025–26 |
| Liver cancer surgery * | $15,000 – 35,000 Guangzhou $15,000 – 24,000 | $78,000 – 111,000median hospital charges, open vs. laparoscopic | China: city-level international-patient quotes. US: median hospital charges $77,657 (laparoscopic) – $111,051 (open), Alizai et al., Surgery 2026 (Nationwide Readmissions Database 2016–20). Last checked 2025–26 |
| Esophageal cancer surgery * | $10,000 – 35,000 | ≈ $126,000 – 147,000median total hospital charges, 2016 dollars | China: local published fees × international-department factor — wide range, lower confidence. US: total hospital charges, median $125,882 – 146,849 (interquartile $77,000 – 337,000), Harrison et al., JTCVS 2018 (HCUP, CA/FL/NY 2009–11). Last checked 2025–26 |
| Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (IMRT) *per course | $10,000 – 25,000 | $35,000 – 90,000whole course, billed charges | China: provincial pricing schedule floor + national cost study. US: whole-course listed charges, 30–35 fractions — US radiation-oncology cost guides. Last checked 2025–26 |
| ICL lens implantationboth eyes — refractive vision correction, not a cosmetic procedure | ≈ $3,600 – 6,100 published package price, both eyes | $8,000 – 12,000EVO ICL, clinic cash price · $4,000 – 6,000 per eye | Aier Eye Hospital published price lists, Chengdu and Wuhan centers (2026) — a listed ophthalmic hospital group; per procedure, both eyes. US: published clinic cash prices; national average $4,935 per eye (CareCredit). Last checked Oct 2026 |
| Executive health screeningone day — entry: brain MRI, LDCT, 12+ tumor markers; flagship adds volumetric brain MRI, carotid plaque imaging, capsule gastroscopy, 14-day glucose | $1,067 – 1,997 fixed USD prices — all-inclusive program rates (entry / flagship) | $2,500 – 15,000comparable US executive physical programs | Screening group program rates, Guangzhou, quoted as a fixed US-dollar price including currency protection, so the quoted number is the final number. US: published pricing for executive physical programs at major US centers (Mayo Clinic $2,500 – 5,500). Last checked Oct 2026 |
All figures are indicative reference ranges in US dollars, last checked between 2025 and October 2026 — published schedules change and hospital pricing is the only definitive source. Rows marked * have no independent international-patient quote behind them yet and should be read as orientation only. Guangzhou hospitals typically price below Beijing/Shanghai for the same procedure. For CAR-T, cardiac, joint and cancer surgery there is no single national tariff: scope, patient group and hospital type change the number substantially, so we work from a written estimate for your case. Final medical costs are always set by the treating hospital in a written estimate.
Summary of an actual written estimate from a heavy-ion center's international department (October 2026); the full document can be shared with prospective patients. It shows the level of detail to expect in your own written estimate — and what to check in it.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| First treatment fraction (first lesion) | ≈ $7,000 |
| Each additional fraction | ≈ $2,300 |
| Radiotherapy charge cap for the first lesion | ≈ $28,000 |
| Second and additional lesions | + ≈ $7,000 initial fee each |
| Hospitalization (ward, nursing, exams) | ≈ $7,000 – 8,500 |
| Typical total, single lesion | ≈ $35,000 – 36,000 |
| Treatment stay | 4 – 7 weeks |
| Nearby accommodation (reference) | ≈ $30 – 70 / night |
Send the medical information you already have — reports, imaging, pathology and current treatment.
We present the case to suitable departments and request their written response.
Check what is included, what is excluded, how long the quote is valid and the payment schedule. No commitment yet.
If you proceed, our coordination fee is settled before departure — on ticket day, at the latest 5 days before flying. Medical fees are always paid by you directly to the hospital.
A case review is not a diagnosis and an estimate is not a guarantee of treatment: the treating hospital confirms the plan, the charges and whether you are eligible for treatment.