Comprehension, verified
If a patient cannot restate the diagnosis in one sentence, the interpreter returns to the clinician until they can.
About NexamDC
A coordination layer between the patient and the hospital.
Chinese hospitals are not difficult to enter. They are difficult to navigate without Mandarin. NexamDC supplies the missing layer: department triage, appointment coordination, on-site medical interpretation and translated documentation.
Origin
Founded after a delayed appendectomy in Suzhou.
The surgery was excellent and cost less than the patient's hotel bill. The five hours spent
in the wrong corridor were the part that could have been avoided.
In 2019 a German engineer on a factory contract in Suzhou developed acute appendicitis. His employer dispatched a taxi; the taxi delivered him to the wrong campus of the correct hospital. By the time a German-speaking interpreter reached him, he had been waiting in a corridor for five hours with a perforated appendix.
One of our founders was that interpreter. The clinical outcome was good — the surgery was performed the same night by an experienced team, and the total cost was a fraction of the equivalent procedure in Germany. What failed was the information layer: every decision he needed to make depended on signage, forms and instructions that nobody had translated.
NexamDC was established to close that gap. We are not clinicians and we do not practise medicine. We maintain the operational knowledge that a first-time patient cannot be expected to have — which campus holds which specialty, when the international clinic opens, where the imaging queue is shortest, and which payment window accepts a foreign card.
Operating footprint
Fifteen cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Suzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xiamen and Kunming. In each city we hold working relationships with the international clinics of at least two tier-3 hospitals, and retain interpreters who live within thirty minutes of those campuses.
What we are not
We are not a hospital, a clinic, or a telehealth provider. We do not diagnose, prescribe or sell treatment. We accept no commission for referring a patient to a particular hospital: the index is editorial, and our fee is identical whichever hospital you select. In a medical emergency, call 120.
Operating standards
Three commitments
Price stated in advance
Half-day, full-day or remote, quoted before the visit begins. No hourly overruns, no hospital commission, no interpretation surcharge.
Clinical candour
If a hospital is the wrong setting for a case, we say so — including when that means referring outside our partner network.
Methodology
How the index is calculated.
A hospital may hold world-class oncology outcomes and still be a poor setting for a patient who speaks no Mandarin. The index weights both dimensions, and the weights are published.
Data currency
October 2026. Sources: National Health Commission tier-3 accreditation register, hospital
international clinic disclosures, 2025 department outcome reporting, and 640 post-visit
reviews collected by NexamDC.
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
|
Clinical strength
Department outcomes, accreditation, case volume
|
40% |
|
International readiness
English-capable staff, international clinic, foreign payment
|
30% |
|
Access and wait time
Days to first specialist slot, imaging turnaround
|
20% |
|
Patient-reported outcome
Post-visit reviews from accompanied patients
|
10% |
Hospitals are re-scored quarterly. A facility cannot pay to enter, exit or move within the index. Where a department reports fewer than 30 cases, the score is marked indicative rather than ranked.
Clinical governance
Oversight and operations
Every accompanied visit is reviewed the same evening by a clinician on staff.
WL
Dr. Wen Liu
Medical Director
12 years emergency medicine, Shanghai
PR
Priya Raman
Head of Operations
Built the 15-city interpreter roster
TF
Tomás Ferrer
Patient Experience
Former hospital service manager
CY
Chen Yu
Chief Interpreter
Certified medical interpreter, EN/ZH
Rates
Fee structure
The fee covers accompaniment, interpretation and documentation. Hospital charges — registration, consultation, diagnostics, medication — are paid at cost by the patient, against itemised receipts.
Remote coordination · ¥280
Hospital selection, slot booking and written briefing. Patient attends unaccompanied. Suitable for follow-ups and second opinions.
Half-day accompaniment · ¥680
Up to four hours on site: registration, consultation, routine diagnostics and pharmacy. The standard outpatient unit.
Full-day accompaniment · ¥1,180
Eight hours, multiple departments, imaging and admission paperwork. Includes translated report within 24 hours.
Add-ons
Priced per item, quotable in advance
| Service | Covers | Price (估算) |
|---|---|---|
| Private car transfer | Hotel ↔ hospital, driver waits, up to 60 min drive each way | ¥380–650 / trip |
| Accommodation coordination | Near-hospital hotel at contracted rate + booking administration | ¥200 / stay |
| Non-English interpreter | Spanish, French, Arabic, Japanese on site | +¥150 / visit |
| Report translation, express | Discharge summary or lab panel within 4 hours | +¥180 |
| Follow-up package | Results review call + repeat booking, 30 days | ¥450 / month |
Prices are estimates pending final cost calibration and exclude hospital charges, which are billed at cost with itemised receipts. Weekend and public holiday visits carry a 20% supplement. Payment accepted in CNY, USD or EUR.
FAQ
Common questions
Do I need an appointment, or can I attend without one?
Most tier-3 hospitals require a booked slot, and popular specialists are scheduled one to two weeks ahead. Unbooked registration exists, but typically means a three-hour queue for a clinician who may not be the appropriate specialist. Where possible, contact us the day before; we hold appointment slots each morning.
Will the clinician speak English?
In an international clinic, usually — but not always to the standard a detailed consultation requires. This is the specific reason an interpreter attends rather than interpreting by telephone.
How are hospital charges paid?
International clinics accept major foreign cards. Standard outpatient windows are increasingly cashless but frequently require a Chinese payment application, so we settle on the patient's behalf and return the itemised receipt. A passport is required for registration in all cases.
Can you coordinate a medical evacuation?
We coordinate hospital-to-hospital transfers and can arrange a clinician escort for ground or air ambulance. We do not operate the aircraft. Contact the 24-hour line directly for this; do not use the web form.
How is medical information handled?
Records are stored encrypted and accessed only by the coordinator and clinician assigned to the case. They are deleted 90 days after the visit unless retention is requested for a follow-up episode.
Contact
Provide the city and the symptoms.
We return the recommended department, hospital and an estimated cost range before any commitment is made.