Knee and Hip Replacement Cost in China: Implant Prices (2026)

In mainland China's public hospitals, a primary knee implant selected in national bulk-buying costs ¥4,779–5,434 per set and a selected primary hip implant ¥5,610–7,987, depending on its bearing materials. These are the prices selected in the 2024 renewal of national volume-based procurement (集采, "bulk-buying"), and public hospitals charge them to patients without markup^[1][2]. That is the implant only: the operation, anaesthesia, ward, medicines, tests and rehabilitation are billed separately at regulated item prices, and robot assistance or a non-selected implant adds more. This guide breaks down each layer with official figures as of October 2026. For the operation itself, the hospital stay and travel planning, see joint replacement in China.

How bulk-buying changed implant prices

2021, the first national round. In September 2021 the national procurement organised under the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) selected 44 of the 48 companies that bid for hip and knee systems. Average prices fell from about ¥35,000 to about ¥7,000 for a hip and from about ¥32,000 to about ¥5,000 for a knee, 82% on average^[3][4]. Implants were bought as complete systems rather than part by part, and the companies' "accompanying service" (staff who assist with the instruments in theatre) was priced separately^[3]. The results took effect in April 2022^[5].

2024, the renewal (接续采购). When the first agreements expired, more than 6,000 hospitals reported demand for about 580,000 sets a year. In all, 167 products from 54 domestic and multinational companies were selected, at prices on average about 6% below the first round, and price gaps between selected products narrowed on average from 2.8-fold to 1.1-fold^[6]. Provinces switched to the new prices during 2024 (Beijing, for example, on 11 October 2024), and each region's purchasing cycle runs three years from its start date^[2][7].

Under the renewal rules, a product that lost the first stage of bidding could still be "revived" if its price was no higher than the first-round average selected price^[6]. In the 2024 results, the highest selected price in every category was exactly that revival line^[1][2]:

Primary implant system	First-round average (2024 revival line)	2024 selected price per set	Annual demand reported by hospitals
Hip, metal-on-polyethylene	¥5,910	¥5,610–5,910	10,428
Hip, ceramic-on-polyethylene	¥7,117	¥6,750–7,117	173,303
Hip, ceramic-on-ceramic	¥7,987	¥7,587–7,987	102,264
Knee (all primary total knee systems)	¥5,434	¥4,779–5,434	295,567

The price covers delivery, the instruments needed for the operation and the accompanying service. A hip set means stem, head, liner, cup and two screws; a knee set means femoral component, tibial tray, polyethylene insert and kneecap component. Each company bid a single price per category, and different sizes of the same part carry the same price^[2]. Public hospitals charge the selected price at zero markup^[8].

What the categories mean: ceramic, polyethylene, metal

The procurement documents define the hip categories by the materials of the ball (femoral head) and the socket liner^[2]:

• Ceramic-on-ceramic: head and liner both made of zirconia-toughened alumina composite ceramic.
• Ceramic-on-polyethylene: a ceramic head against a polyethylene liner, which may be highly cross-linked (with or without antioxidant) or ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.
• Metal-on-polyethylene: a cobalt-chromium-molybdenum or zirconium-niobium alloy head against a polyethylene liner.

In all three, the stem and cup may be cobalt-chrome alloy, titanium alloy or tantalum, fixed with or without bone cement. Knees form one category whatever the metal of the femoral and tibial parts (cobalt-chrome, titanium, zirconium-niobium or tantalum), so the official list does not price knee materials differently^[2].

What these materials mean for you is a conversation for your surgeon, but neutral sources agree on the outline. The NHSA's patient guide notes that ceramic heads resist wear better than metal ones but carry a small risk of fracture under violent impact^[5]. A review in EFORT Open Reviews links ceramic-on-ceramic with much lower wear but a risk of breakage and squeaking; randomised trials show similar short- to mid-term survival for ceramic-on-ceramic and for ceramic or metal heads on cross-linked polyethylene, and the authors note that bearing choice is often "experience-based" rather than "evidence-based"^[9]. The share of hips containing ceramic rose from 87% before procurement to 95% in the 2024 round^[6].

Not on the national lists. The 2024 round covered primary total hips and knees only; 3D-printed products were included and custom-made ones could join voluntarily^[2]. Revision implants, half-hip (hemiarthroplasty) systems and partial knees fall outside. A partial (unicompartmental) knee replacement resurfaces only one worn compartment and is an option when arthritis is limited to that area, though a total knee may still be needed later^[10]. Beijing caps the listed price of half-hip systems at ¥6,501 and partial-knee systems at ¥5,977^[7].

What the implant price does not include

Surgery, anaesthesia and the ward

Each province or city sets maximum service fees for its public hospitals, so the operation fee varies by place. Under the national pricing guideline for musculoskeletal procedures, Shanghai and Anhui now bill a hip or a knee replacement as one item, the large-joint replacement fee (人工关节置换费（大关节）), charged per joint:

Surgery fee, public hospitals (maximum)	Shanghai[11][13]	Anhui, province-run tertiary hospitals[12]
Hip or knee replacement, per joint	¥5,745 at tertiary hospitals (¥4,996 at secondary)	¥3,700
In force since	30 June 2026	1 June 2026

In Shanghai's public hospitals, general anaesthesia with a breathing tube or laryngeal mask has been capped since 20 March 2026 at ¥1,420 for the first two hours (plus 15% for each further hour), and spinal anaesthesia at ¥824 for the first two hours (plus 10% for each further hour)^[14][15]. Since 20 April 2026, a bed in a three-bed room in a tertiary hospital costs up to ¥68 a day (¥58 in a room for four or more; single and double rooms are priced by the hospital), plus a physician's inpatient fee of up to ¥50 a day^[16]. Medicines, blood tests, X-rays and other imaging, nursing, physiotherapy and further consumables are separate lines; consumables beyond basic supplies are charged at purchase price with no markup^[16]. Rehabilitation after discharge is a budget of its own: see rehabilitation in China.

Robot-assisted surgery

Public hospitals cannot set a "robot fee" freely. From 2022 the national rule for joint replacement was a percentage mark-up on the joint replacement surgery fee, with no separate charge item^[8]. In January 2026 the NHSA issued a national pricing guideline that replaces this with three separate robot-arm price items (navigation, participating execution and precise execution), each still charged as a multiple of the main operation's price, with a floor and a cap set locally and the robot's dedicated consumables included; provinces are now putting it into effect^[17]:

Robot-arm add-on	Shanghai, from 20 November 2026[18][19]	Hunan, highest price class, from 1 September 2026[20][21]
Navigation	50% of the surgery fee, ¥2,485–5,353	50%, ¥1,800–3,600
Participating execution	150%, ¥6,500–14,000	150%, ¥5,000–12,000
Precise execution	300%, ¥17,000–28,000	300%, ¥16,000–26,000

Example: on Shanghai's ¥5,745 tertiary-hospital fee for a large-joint replacement^[11], the add-on would be ¥2,872.50 for navigation (50%), ¥8,617.50 for participating execution (150%) or ¥17,235 for precise execution (300%, above the ¥17,000 floor)^[18]. At a secondary hospital (¥4,996), precise execution would be charged at the ¥17,000 floor, because 300% (¥14,988) falls below it. Which tier applies depends on what the hospital's system actually does, so ask before you agree to robotic surgery.

Non-selected implants and price caps

Hospitals must use selected products first and complete their agreed volumes, but may also buy other suitably priced products in moderate amounts^[2]. A higher-priced product is not by itself a better fit for you; the selected lists already include domestic and multinational manufacturers^[6]. If a non-selected system contains parts that are on the selected list, those parts keep their selected price^[8]. Beijing caps the listed price of non-selected systems at ¥6,501 (metal-on-polyethylene hip), ¥7,828 (ceramic-on-polyethylene), ¥8,785 (ceramic-on-ceramic) and ¥5,977 (knee); a hospital that needs a product above the cap must file a signed record that is open to public scrutiny^[7]. Other cities set their own rules, so ask for the brand, model and price in writing.

Example: what the listed items add up to

Example: a primary knee replacement with a selected implant in a Shanghai tertiary public hospital, three-bed room, seven billed days (the NHSA's hip-replacement guide says most patients leave hospital about a week after surgery^[5]), at maximum official prices:

Line item	Official price	Source
Knee implant (selected system)	¥4,779–5,434	[1]
Large-joint replacement fee (人工关节置换费（大关节）), tertiary hospital	¥5,745	[11]
Anaesthesia, spinal or general, first 2 hours	¥824–1,420	[15]
Bed, 7 × ¥68	¥476	[16]
Physician's inpatient fee, 7 × ¥50	¥350	[16]
Subtotal of these items	¥12,174–13,425	—

Not included: medicines, tests, imaging, nursing, other consumables, blood products, physiotherapy, any robot add-on, and international-department or private pricing. For a hip, swap in the implant price for your bearing type; Shanghai charges the same ¥5,745 large-joint replacement fee (tertiary) for a hip as for a knee.

Real bills are larger than this subtotal. A study of 3,631 insured patients at one tertiary hospital in Shandong found that the average inpatient bill for knee replacement fell from ¥48,928 to ¥26,365 after procurement, with materials still 41% of it^[22]. Use that as context, not as a quote.

Foreign patients: same item prices, no mainland insurance

Beijing's official guide for foreigners says international patients are charged the same standard as Chinese residents and pay out of pocket or through commercial insurance^[23]. Foreigners join mainland basic medical insurance through employment in China^[24], so a visitor travelling for surgery pays the bill personally or through a private insurer. Special-needs (特需, VIP) services in public hospitals and all services in private hospitals are market-priced, and a public hospital's market-priced services may not exceed 10% of its total^[25]. Expect international-department and private quotes to differ from the official item prices above; see international departments explained and insurance for treatment abroad.

Compared with private care abroad

Some private hospitals abroad publish self-pay guide prices. For example, Nuffield Health's hospital in Leeds, England, listed £16,135 for a hip replacement, £17,995 for a robotic-assisted hip replacement and £17,445 for a knee replacement as of October 2026. It describes these as approximate prices for the treatment only: diagnostic tests are charged separately, the final price can vary with consultant fees, the prosthesis, drugs and pre-existing conditions, and a fixed all-inclusive price is given after the first consultation^[26]. Compare a price like that with a complete, itemised Chinese quote, never with the implant price alone, and add flights, a companion, several weeks of accommodation and follow-up at home: see costs and price comparison.

What to ask for in writing

1. The implant category, manufacturer and model, and whether it is a selected product.
2. The surgery fee item and its price, and the planned anaesthesia.
3. The ward type, its daily rate and the expected number of nights.
4. Whether a robot or navigation system will be used, and which fee tier applies.
5. The deposit, how unused money is refunded, and whether you will be billed at ordinary or international-department prices.

Our bilingual inquiry letter helps you ask in Chinese and English, and hospital admission in China covers deposits and ward routines. Prices follow the procedure your surgeon recommends after examining you; this guide does not assess whether you need a replacement or which kind. If your problem is mainly a meniscus or ligament, ask about arthroscopy and sports-medicine surgery instead.

Next steps

• Read joint replacement in China for the operation, the hospital stay and flying home safely.
• Browse hospitals that list joint replacement, or Shanghai hospitals for the city priced above.
• Compare other price guides: dental implant brands and cataract lens types.
• Let the CareAtlas planner build a surgery-and-recovery itinerary around your quote.