Health Bureau Proposes Bilingual Price Lists and Fixed Prices or Price Ranges for Private Healthcare Institutions

The Health Bureau submitted a paper to the Legislative Council proposing that private healthcare institutions be required to provide bilingual Chinese and English price lists in a specified format, and to provide patients or their representatives with fixed prices or price ranges before services are rendered; licensed private hospitals must provide a cost estimate before patients are admitted. The government plans to submit regulations and draft a code of practice to the Legislative Council by the end of this year, with phased implementation starting in the second half of next year.