Frequently Asked Questions

Neither. XinoVell is an independent healthcare navigation and care coordination platform, not a medical provider. We help you connect with suitable hospitals and specialists in China, and we coordinate what surrounds the care: preparing your information, appointments, language support, practical arrangements and follow-up.

All medical assessment, diagnosis and treatment is provided independently by licensed institutions and qualified practitioners.

No. Every diagnosis, test and treatment decision is made by your treating doctors. Our job is to help you reach the right doctors and keep the process around them running smoothly, not to replace their clinical judgment.

If you want an independent medical view before deciding anything, a second opinion puts your records in front of a relevant specialist. See the next question.

Tell us what you are dealing with and what you want to find out. A care coordinator will contact you within 1 business day. The first conversation is free, and you are not committing to anything by having it.

From there, the next step depends on your situation. Many people start with a second opinion, where a specialist in China reviews your existing records, so you can decide whether a trip is worthwhile before you travel. It comes in three forms:

• Free consultation: initial case review, service overview and guidance on the next step.
• Written second opinion: medical record review, written specialist assessment, treatment options and certified translation.
• Remote specialist consultation: a written opinion, a live consultation with the specialist and professional medical interpretation.

The fee for a second opinion is confirmed in writing before you proceed. The opinion is issued independently by a licensed specialist. We coordinate the process and the translation, and take no part in the clinical judgment. To read more, see our article: xinovell.com/articles/second-opinions-in-china-when-they-may-be-worth-considering.

Your costs fall into three categories, and each is paid to a different party:

• Medical fees: paid directly to the hospital, which issues your receipt.
• Accommodation, transport, attractions and flights: paid directly to licensed travel service providers, if you choose to arrange these through us. International flights are your choice: book them yourself or ask for help.
• Planning and coordination: paid to XinoVell, for planning your journey, coordinating appointments and supporting you in China. Quoted in writing before you commit.

How much it comes to depends on your case, the type of hospital and the city. We do not quote blanket percentages or promised savings. Once we understand your situation, we help you get an itemized estimate from the treating institution, and give you a written quotation for our own fee. Each part is explained before you commit to it.

It depends on your passport. China currently operates a unilateral visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from around fifty countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, many European countries and several in South America and the Middle East. According to the notice published by Chinese visa application centers, it allows stays of up to 30 days and is announced to run until December 31, 2026.

Two cautions. The purposes named in the notice are business, tourism, family visits, exchange visits and transit. Medical treatment is not named, so please confirm with a Chinese embassy or consulate whether your plan, especially a longer course of treatment, needs a different visa. And not every nationality is covered, so check your own passport's position with the National Immigration Administration or your nearest Chinese embassy before you book.

If you do need a visa, we can prepare supporting documents based on your arrangements.

It needs planning rather than improvising. Some hospitals have international departments with English-speaking staff, but coverage varies by department and by time of day.

What helps most is a medical interpreter who is with you, not only a phone app, because a phone cannot tell when a question has been misheard. We arrange interpretation and escort during consultations and tests, and professional translation of your records beforehand.

We reduce the friction caused by language and process. We do not interpret your results or give clinical opinions.

It may. Coverage, pre-authorization and direct billing all depend on your policy, your insurer, the hospital and the treatment. Confirm with your insurer before you finalize arrangements, and do not assume direct billing is available. Worth asking:

• Is treatment in China covered at all, and does my chosen hospital qualify?
• Is pre-authorization required, and is direct billing possible?
• What do I need to pay up front, and which documents does a claim require?
• Which kind of document do you need: a hospital original, an English document issued by the hospital, or a separate translation? These are not interchangeable, and a hospital-issued document is far easier to obtain before you leave China.

We help you identify what needs to be confirmed, prepare supporting documents and coordinate communication between you, the hospital and your insurer. Decisions on coverage and claims rest with your insurer.

Translation: not always, and not everything. Translating an entire medical history is rarely necessary. What needs translating depends on the specialist, the language of your original records and the purpose of the consultation. We help identify the key documents first and arrange professional medical translation for those. Keep both the originals and the translated versions.

Sending: please do not email your records, or send them through the website form or live chat. Our general systems are not set up to receive or store medical records. When your service needs clinical information to be reviewed, we give you a secure upload link to a designated independent clinical platform. That platform is responsible for handling what you submit to it, under its own privacy policy and applicable law. XinoVell itself does not keep your medical record.

A good starting set is a short summary of your health concern and any diagnosis, the key reports, your imaging as actual image files (CT or MRI, not screenshots), and a list of your current medications and allergies. If you do not have everything, start anyway and we will tell you what else is needed. Our Privacy Policy is at xinovell.com/privacy.

Two to four weeks is a reasonable minimum for planning. More complex cases benefit from longer, and urgent situations are handled case by case.

Length of stay depends on what you are having done. For a health screening, the main tests usually take one or two testing days, the report typically follows two to five days later, and a doctor then goes through it with you, so allow about a week. Anything involving a procedure, recovery and a follow-up review needs considerably longer. Build some slack into the schedule, and ask the treating doctor about flying afterwards, as some procedures require a waiting period before air travel.

Yes, within what is available. Depending on the hospital's resources and the services you choose, we can help you keep your records organized through the clinical platform, translate relevant documents, coordinate remote follow-up where available and, with your authorization, help hand over records to your doctor at home.

Reports are translated by people with medical backgrounds so that your doctor at home has what they need. Bring the originals to your next appointment. Monitoring and treatment decisions remain with your doctors.