How to continue chronic care after moving to China

Start here: make a five-step handover plan

Use five milestones: collect the old records, book the new provider, complete the local review, establish the prescription and pharmacy route, then confirm follow-up and insurance. Put an owner and date beside each task. A booked appointment alone is not a completed handover, and neither is arriving with an overseas prescription but no local review.

If you do only one thing today, send a short message to the prospective provider. State that you are moving to China and need to continue established care, give the diagnosis wording used in your records, list the documents available and ask which campus and department should handle the first appointment. Also ask how to send records securely, whether the original passport is required, whether language support is available and which team answers prescription or insurance questions.

• 1. Records collected and organized
• 2. Exact provider, campus and department confirmed
• 3. First local clinical review completed
• 4. Local prescription and pharmacy route established
• 5. Follow-up, insurance and backup contacts saved

A handover is complete when the receiving team has reviewed the history and given the next workable step—not when a form, appointment or translation exists on its own.

Build a one-page care summary and medicine list

Ask the current treating team for a dated, clinician-authored summary covering the condition as they record it, major relevant history, current plan, allergies or recorded adverse reactions, recent follow-up, the next planned review and a professional contact where available. Add the most relevant reports, image files, procedure or discharge records and current prescriptions. Keep originals alongside clearly identified translations.

Create a separate medicine table copied directly from labels and prescriptions. Record the active ingredient, brand where relevant, strength, dosage form, clinician-recorded directions, manufacturer, prescription date and issuing country. Attach a clear label or package photograph. Do not guess a Chinese brand equivalent, convert units yourself or rewrite directions to make the table look consistent.

• Dated clinician-authored summary
• Condition wording and responsible previous clinician
• Allergies or adverse reactions as recorded
• Current prescriptions and medicine-label photographs
• Active ingredient, strength, dosage form and manufacturer
• Relevant reports, scans or pathology files
• Next planned review and professional contact
• Original documents paired with identified translations

Your one-page summary is an index to the original evidence, not a replacement for the clinician-authored records.

Book the first local appointment before supply runs low

Arrange the appointment while you still have enough lawfully held medicine to follow the current prescription through the expected review process. There is no universal number of days because appointment access, reassessment, product availability and medicine controls differ. If timing is becoming tight, contact the current prescriber and the prospective Chinese provider promptly rather than rationing, doubling, stopping, borrowing or substituting medicine.

Family medicine or primary care may coordinate records, routine follow-up and specialist referrals, while a specialist service may be the better entry point when the previous team has named a specific specialty. Provider pages offer useful examples: Beijing United Family says its family-medicine service coordinates with specialists and manages chronic disease, but that does not make the same route available or appropriate everywhere. Give the registration or international-patient team the diagnosis wording from your records and ask which exact campus and department to book.

• Exact institution and campus
• Provider-confirmed registration department
• New-patient and foreign-passport route
• Earliest appropriate appointment and record-upload method
• Language or interpreter support for the actual appointment
• Pharmacy and follow-up services at that location
• Referral route if the institution cannot continue the care

Before departure, ask the current prescriber for the records and travel documentation you need, and verify current transport or import rules for the exact product and route.

Use the first visit to reconcile medicines and records

Bring the one-page summary, original labels or packaging where lawful and safe, prior prescriptions, relevant reports or image files, allergy information and insurer documents. Ask the clinician to confirm how the condition is recorded locally, resolve medicine-name or unit differences, identify which records can be used and explain the next follow-up step. An interpreter can translate the conversation but should not decide that two products or instructions are equivalent.

The receiving clinician decides whether to continue, change or stop a medicine, whether a local prescription can be issued and what follow-up is required. The pharmacist then reviews and dispenses the local prescription. If information is missing, ask the clinician to name the exact document or previous professional contact needed instead of trying to interpret or replace the evidence yourself.

• Confirm the locally recorded condition and responsible clinician
• Reconcile each product name, ingredient, strength, form and documented direction
• Resolve allergies, adverse reactions and duplicate-name risks professionally
• Identify records accepted for clinical use and records still needed
• Document the prescription, pharmacy and next-appointment route
• Ask who to contact if the planned service or product is unavailable

Medication reconciliation is a clinical and pharmacy task. A translation or database match is evidence to review, not permission to substitute.

Confirm the local prescription and pharmacy route

Medicine names can differ across countries, brands, manufacturers and Chinese translations. Use the active ingredient, strength, dosage form, manufacturer and product approval information to support the clinician and pharmacist's check. An official product database result can help identify a product, but it does not prove local stock, interchangeability, prescription validity, insurance coverage or personal suitability.

Before leaving the provider, ask which pharmacy can process the prescription and whether stock can be checked through an official channel. If it cannot be dispensed, record the reason—such as stock, prescription format, institution restriction or product control—and take that answer back to the prescriber. Do not buy a similar-looking product, use another person's supply or choose a substitute yourself.

Set up refills and follow-up before leaving

Ask the provider to write down the next appointment, refill or renewal channel, named pharmacy, stock-check method and the contact to use if a visit is delayed. If the provider offers long-term prescriptions, ask what local eligibility, stability, record and in-person review criteria apply. The prescriber chooses the duration; provider policy, medicine controls, stock and insurance quantity limits may be separate.

China's long-term prescription framework allows local implementation and clinician assessment, including a longer period of up to twelve weeks in qualifying circumstances. That ceiling is not an automatic refill entitlement, stock guarantee or instruction about how much medicine to use. Never stretch a supply or change directions to match an administrative period.

• Clinician assessment and local eligibility
• Condition and medicine scope defined by local implementation
• Prescription duration selected by the prescriber
• Named dispensing pharmacy and stock process
• Required review and renewal channel
• Insurance quantity and reimbursement rules

Ask which previous tests and records can be used

Ask the receiving clinician whether each original report, date, method, unit, reference range and image file is sufficient for the current decision. The clinician decides what can be used and whether anything needs updating. This guide does not choose monitoring tests, intervals or target values; it helps make the earlier evidence identifiable and easy to retrieve.

After the visit, ask how to obtain formal copies of the note, prescription, reports and image data. Provider routes vary. Beijing United Family, for example, publishes a signed medical-record request process, while another hospital may use a records window, app or different authorization form. Preserve the Chinese original with any identified translation and keep dates, units and reference information intact.

The originating provider confirms what a record says. The receiving clinician decides how it can be used. Neither decision should be replaced by a patient translation.

Add community, family-doctor or online care when useful

A community health service center or family-doctor team may make routine follow-up more convenient, while a hospital specialist remains involved where needed. Ask the specific local service whether foreign residents can register, which passport or address documents it accepts, what language support exists, what the service includes and how referrals work. Enrollment and service scope differ by city and provider.

Online follow-up may help after a local clinician has reviewed the case, but the platform and clinician must confirm identity, prior diagnosis and suitability. Ask which requests still require an in-person visit, which medicines are excluded and what the fallback route is. Do not rely on an internet hospital as a universal first appointment, emergency service or unrestricted refill channel.

• Local foreign-resident eligibility for community registration
• Family-doctor contract contents, fee and term
• Named hospital referral and return-referral process
• Records and prescription information exchanged between providers
• Internet follow-up eligibility and identity verification
• In-person fallback and provider-defined urgent route

Confirm insurance, payment and receipts separately

A provider agreeing to register you does not mean the insurer covers the visit. Ask the insurer about the exact hospital, campus, department, outpatient benefit, prescription benefit, pre-existing-condition terms, authorization and direct-billing or reimbursement route. Provider information is useful but is not your plan's final coverage decision; Beijing United Family, for example, tells patients to confirm benefits with their insurer and notes that chronic or pre-existing conditions may be treated differently by different plans.

Collect the documents the payer names, which may include the visit record, prescription, itemized charges, official medical receipt, payment proof, medical certificate, referral or prior authorization. If moving between Chinese cities, confirm insurance registration, transfer and cross-region settlement separately from the clinical handover.

Keep one continuity file and a backup route

Keep the latest clinician summary, local prescriptions, medicine table, allergies or adverse reactions, key reports, responsible departments, appointment instructions, insurer contacts and record-request routes in one secure folder. Update it when the provider, city, passport, insurer or medicine changes, while preserving older dated versions so the source history remains visible.

Ask the treating team what contact to use if an appointment is missed, a medicine cannot be dispensed, a result is delayed or travel interrupts follow-up. Save the routine, after-hours and urgent routes in writing. Follow clinician-issued safety instructions; if you believe there is a medical emergency, call the local emergency system, including 120 where available, rather than waiting for a refill or routine message.

A contingency plan should name contacts and processes. Its clinical triggers and medicine instructions must come from the treating team.