Checking a doctor at a private clinic in China: filing, display and the registration query

A private clinic in China is set up by filing with the county-level health authority (or, for TCM comprehensive and integrated clinics, the county-level TCM authority), and the clinic can practise once it has the filing certificate. The doctors who work there still need their own registration. This page does not recommend any clinic or doctor.

What counts as a clinic

The national Interim Measures on Clinic Filing (诊所备案管理暂行办法) define a clinic as a medical institution that provides outpatient diagnosis and treatment, mainly for common and frequently occurring conditions, and has no inpatient beds. The measures do not cover traditional Chinese medicine clinics that file under a separate set of measures.

The measures were issued with notice Guo Wei Yi Zheng Fa [2022] No. 33 of the National Health Commission and the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Who receives the filing

The measures say an organisation or an individual sets up a clinic by filing with the county-level health authority, or the TCM authority, of the place where the clinic will be. After receiving a filing certificate the clinic can start practising. The county-level health authority handles ordinary, dental and medical cosmetic clinics, and the county-level TCM authority handles TCM comprehensive clinics and integrated Chinese and Western medicine clinics.

Conditions for setting up a clinic

The measures set conditions for a clinic. An individual who sets up a clinic must have practised in a medical institution for five years after registration, and the clinic's main person in charge must meet the same requirement when an organisation sets it up. The clinic must also meet the basic standard for clinics, have a name that meets the rules, and be able to bear civil liability on its own.

What a clinic must display

The measures require a clinic to display its filing certificate and the registration information of its health technical staff in a conspicuous place and to accept public supervision.

The measures also require the clinic's actual set-up to match what its filing certificate records: name, address, legal representative or main person in charge, ownership form, departments and service mode. Changes to these details must be filed with the original filing authority.

What the clinic may do

The measures say a clinic must treat patients within its filed departments, and that a clinic that has not filed may not practise.

The measures say the filing certificate must not be forged, altered, sold, transferred or lent.

How filing information is made public

The measures require the county-level authority to publish the clinic's filing information within twenty days (二十日) of issuing the certificate so that society can look it up and supervise.

The measures require the county authority to check a new clinic on site within forty-five days (四十五日) of issuing the certificate. A clinic that does not meet the conditions must correct the problem within a time limit. If it refuses or still falls short, the authority revokes the filing and announces it.

TCM clinics

The Law on Traditional Chinese Medicine says a TCM clinic files its name, address, scope of treatment and staffing with the county-level TCM authority before starting. It says the clinic must display its scope of treatment, and its TCM physicians' names and practice scope, in a conspicuous place, and must not go beyond the filed scope.

Checking the doctor

A clinic's filing is separate from a doctor's own registration. The Physicians Law says a physician who practises individually must carry out approval or filing formalities as the law requires, and that nobody may practise as a physician without a registered practice certificate.

The National Health Commission's service platform lists a licensed doctor query (执业医师查询). That platform page forwards to the national doctor registration query. The portal's form asks for the institution, and its own note says at least four consecutive characters of the institution's name are enough for a fuzzy search. See verifying a doctor in China.

Unknowns

Provincial rules may add detail to the national filing measures, and this page does not describe them.

Questions people ask

Does a clinic need a licence to open in China?

The national measures call for filing with the county-level authority and receiving a filing certificate. Once the clinic has the certificate, it can start practising.

What should a clinic show to patients?

The measures require the filing certificate and the registration information of the health technical staff to be displayed in a conspicuous place.

Does the clinic filing prove the doctor is registered?

The filing is the clinic's own record. A doctor's registration is a separate record, and the Physicians Law says nobody may practise as a physician without a registered practice certificate.

Sources

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 texts, the official texts prevail, and rules may change after the check date.

This unofficial explanation reflects official pages read on the dates shown in each source note; it does not verify any named doctor and is not medical advice, and the live official record prevails. Medical and legal notice.