How much cheaper is the same illness at a community clinic than at a top-tier hospital, should you register and wait or go to the emergency triage desk after a serious injury, should you get a disability assessment and a disability certificate after treatment, and what should one dental implant cost and does insurance cover it?
Tips from this section that apply in the United States. This section is about health and medicines. It is general information, not a substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis or prescription.
Reading and copying your own medical records is a right the law gives you. Outpatient records, inpatient notes, lab reports, imaging, surgery and anesthesia records, pathology materials and itemized bills can all be copied. Hospitals must designate a department or staff member to handle requests, and may charge only the cost of copying. Changing hospitals, getting a second opinion, filing a commercial insurance claim, and any real dispute all depend on this stack of papers.
The emergency department doesn't go first come, first served; it sorts patients into four levels by how serious the condition is. The place where the level is set is the pre-exam triage desk (预检分诊台) at the emergency entrance, not the registration window. When you arrive, say the most dangerous thing first: heavy bleeding, can't catch your breath, not conscious, chest pain like a heart attack, or pain you can't stand.
