Beijing · 北京

MRI in Beijing for foreigners: what it costs in 2026

Prices checked 26 October 2026 (Taipei time)

MRI in Beijing is capped at ¥470 per body area in the ordinary service of every public hospital, the same price at a small district hospital and at the city’s most famous teaching hospitals.

• MRI of one body area without contrast: at most ¥470 (about $70).
• MRI with contrast: at most ¥555 per area, plus the contrast medicine.
• CT of one body area: at most ¥133 without contrast, ¥203 with contrast.
• PET-CT, whole body: at most ¥5,000 for the scan, plus the tracer.
• Official rules: Jing Yi Bao Fa [2025] No. 13, in force since 31 August 2025.

Beijing rewrote its radiology prices in 2025. The new schedule, issued by the Beijing Municipal Healthcare Security Administration with the city’s human resources and social security bureau, took effect on 31 August 2025 and replaced dozens of old items, including the older split by machine type, with one price per body area. It is the only one of the four cities on this site that does not vary the price by hospital grade.

Beijing also has the cheapest CT of the four cities, at ¥133 per body area, and it charges extra body areas in full up to three; from the fourth area on, a scan in the same visit is free. That makes a two-area MRI dearer in Beijing than in Shanghai, which discounts the second area.

How Beijing charges for more than one area

More than three body areas in one visit are charged as three (the same for vessels). A plain and a contrast scan of the same body area are not both charged; the contrast price replaces the plain one.

Our arithmetic from the official rules. Excludes contrast medicine, the outpatient registration and consultation fee, and any international-department surcharge.

Other rules in the Beijing schedule

• Special MRI sequences add ¥40 each, at most ¥200 per exam. Heart or fetal MRI adds ¥110.
• Thin-slice CT adds ¥50; coronary calcium scoring adds ¥47; energy (spectral) CT adds ¥70.
• Two or more PET-CT areas are charged as whole body: the torso fee of ¥4,000 plus a ¥1,000 whole-body add-on.
• Hospitals that cannot provide digital images must charge ¥5 less.

What a visitor to Beijing actually pays

The caps above bind the ordinary outpatient service. Large Beijing hospitals also run international or VIP departments for self-paying patients, with English-speaking staff and separate, higher prices that these caps do not cover. We have not yet found a Beijing hospital that publishes its international-department MRI price on its own website, so we do not quote one here.

Coordination services that book Beijing hospitals for foreigners publish package prices instead. China MedPass, which focuses on Beijing, advertises MRI from $250 and MRI with contrast from $320, coordination and a typical hospital fee together. That is roughly three to four times the official cap, and pays for the booking, interpreting and the English report.

Getting a scan in Beijing: the practical steps

1. Choose the service. The ordinary outpatient service is cheapest but works in Chinese. An international department costs more and has English-speaking staff.
2. Register with your passport. A doctor at that hospital sees you and orders the scan. Read MRI without a referral in China.
3. Pay, then get a scan time. Bring a way to pay; see entering China and paying as a visitor.
4. Collect the report and images. Ask for the images as DICOM files: DICOM and English reports.

Compare with other cities

All four cities side by side: MRI, CT and PET-CT price table. Back to the China MRI cost overview.