Imaging is where China’s published pricing is at its most transparent. The national healthcare regulator has publicly discussed driving scan prices down, and individual public hospitals print their CT and MRI prices on official notice boards and websites. Here is what is actually on the record — and, in keeping with this site’s rule, what is not.
What the national regulator has said
China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) issued a national pricing guideline for radiology services in late 2024, standardising how CT and MRI examinations are priced across provinces. In May 2025, an NHSA official told state media that some provinces had already cut CT scan prices to around ¥200 and MRI scans to around ¥500, with the guideline rolling out nationwide by mid-2025.
What public hospitals themselves publish
Two provincial tertiary (3A) hospitals publish their prices openly, and both line up with the regulator’s statement:
| Item (plain scan) | Published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CT, per region | ¥286 – ¥290 | Jilin Provincial People’s Hospital; Jiangmen Central Hospital (official published lists, 2025) |
| Brain MRI, plain scan | ¥500 – ¥550 | Same two hospitals’ published lists, 2025 |
✓What raises the price
- Contrast-enhanced scans (dye + observation time add to the fee)
- Multiple regions scanned in one session (each region bills separately)
- Higher-tier hospitals in tier-1 cities may price above provincial norms
- Reporting fees for specialist radiology reads on complex studies
×What we will not tell you
- A single “national price” for CT or MRI — none exists
- Prices for private international hospitals — they set their own, published case-by-case
- Which scan you need — that is a clinical question for a doctor, not a website
How to get the exact price before you book
- Name the scan precisely: “plain scan or contrast-enhanced”, which body region, and whether you have prior images to compare.
- Ask the international department for a written quote covering the scan, the radiologist report, and any consultation bundled around it.
- Bring prior imaging on disc or in electronic form — a comparison read can change both the plan and the cost.
- Confirm payment terms in advance — imaging is usually pay-at-window or pay-in-app, and small enough not to need insurance routing in most cases.
What we cannot verify. US price comparisons: no authoritative public statistics for typical out-of-pocket CT/MRI costs exist that meet this site’s sourcing bar, so we publish no comparison column. Prices at private and international hospitals are quoted individually.
Put imaging into the whole budget
See how a ¥500 scan sits next to the treatments people actually travel for: