United Family Hospitals in China: 6 Branches Compared (2026)

United Family Healthcare (和睦家医疗, UFH) is a private hospital network that started in Beijing: its first hospital, Beijing United Family Hospital, opened on Jiangtai Road on 26 August 1997 with 20 beds^[1]. Co-founded by Roberta Lipson, it was acquired by New Frontier Group (新风天域) in 2019^[3] and describes its care as high-quality, international-standard private medicine^[2]. CareAtlas lists six of its general hospitals: two in Shanghai and one each in Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Qingdao. This page compares them and explains booking, insurance and prices; each hospital's own page carries its full contacts and sources.

United Family at a glance

Chinese name	和睦家医疗; the hospitals are called …和睦家医院
Founded	1997, Beijing[1]
Owner	New Frontier Group (新风天域)[2], since 2019[3]
Network	11 hospitals and 14 clinics in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Qingdao and other cities, counting HEAL Medical (希愈医疗) in Hong Kong[2]
Scale	More than a million patient visits a year, close to 100,000 of them by foreign patients; over 600 full-time doctors from 25 countries and regions[2]
24-hour service center	4008-919191[2]

The six hospitals compared

Hospital	Address	Opened	Main services	24-hour line	Languages
Beijing United Family Hospital (北京和睦家医院)	2 Jiangtai Road, Chaoyang District[4]	1997[1]	The network's flagship: primary care, specialist clinics, surgery, maternity, pediatrics, oncology, 24-hour emergency services[4]	Emergency +86 10 5927 7120[4]	English, Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai and others; free 24-hour phone interpreting[5]
Shanghai United Family Hospital (上海和睦家医院, Changning)	699 Pingtang Road, Changning District[6]	2004[6]	Full-service hospital: 24-hour emergency room, inpatient and outpatient care, operating theatres, 24-hour in-house pediatrics, radiology, pharmacy and laboratory[6]	Emergency +86 21 2216 3999[6]	English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Hindi, Urdu and others[7]
Shanghai United Family Pudong Hospital, also called New City Hospital (上海和睦家新城医院)	1598 New Jinqiao Road, Pudong New Area[8]	2018[8]	General hospital; departments listed include family medicine, OB/GYN, orthopedics and sports medicine, dentistry and a dog-bite clinic[9]	Emergency +86 21 3886 2999[8]	English, French, Japanese, Korean[9]
Guangzhou United Family Hospital (广州和睦家医院)	31 Pazhou Avenue, Haizhu District[10]	2018[10]	Over 100 beds; internal medicine, surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, family medicine, TCM, ICU and neonatal ICU, birthing center, MRI and CT[10]	Urgent care +86 20 3610 2333[10]	Website in English and Chinese; WhatsApp +86 18819814938[10]
Tianjin United Family Hospital (天津和睦家医院)	22 Tianxiaoyuan, Tanjiang Road, Hexi District[11]	2011[12]	Primary care, OB/GYN, pediatrics, dental and inpatient care[12]; headquarters of the network's reproductive medicine center[13]	Urgent care +86 22 5856 8555 (hospital line +86 22 5856 8500)[11]	Website in English and Chinese[11]
Qingdao United Family Hospital (青岛和睦家医院)	Shilaoren Community, 319 Hong Kong East Road, Laoshan District, about 30 minutes from downtown[14]	2015[15]	Family medicine, internal medicine, surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, postpartum rehabilitation, eye and ENT clinics, a medical cosmetic center[14]	Urgent care +86 532 8163 3120[14]	International team of physicians; website in English and Chinese[14]

Beijing and both Shanghai hospitals publish 24-hour emergency lines; Guangzhou, Tianjin and Qingdao call theirs urgent care. The Beijing and Shanghai language lists come from the city governments' guides for foreign residents. A listed language is not a promise of an interpreter at every visit, so ask for yours when you book.

Other United Family sites

Besides these six, the group's website lists more facilities^[16]:

• Beijing: Beijing United Family Hospital of Integrative Medicine, United Family Women's & Children's Hospital, Beijing United Family Rehabilitation Hospital, United Family New Hope Oncology Center, and the Liangma, Tianzhu, Wudaokou and Tianchen clinics.
• Shanghai: a Jing'an campus plus the Fengshang, Quankou and Xintiandi clinics. The city government counts three general hospitals and four community clinics across Changning, Jing'an and Pudong^[7], and notes that the Jing'an branch offers round-the-clock pediatric outpatient care^[19].
• Shenzhen: Shenzhen New Frontier United Family Hospital.
• Hong Kong: HEAL Medical, HEAL Oncology, HEAL Fertility, HEAL Aesthetic and the Hong Kong Integrated Oncology Centre.

These are not yet in our directory, so confirm their services with them directly.

How to book

1. By phone. The 24-hour service center on 4008-919191 covers Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Qingdao^{[4][10][11][14]}; the two Shanghai hospitals use the appointment center on 400 639 3900^[6][8].
2. Online or by email. Each hospital's English website has an appointment form or online booking. Beijing publishes patientservices@ufh.com.cn^[4], the Shanghai hospitals SHU.ApptCenter@ufh.com.cn^[7][9] and Tianjin tjunited@ufh.com.cn^[11].
3. By WeChat or WhatsApp. In Beijing, the "United Family" WeChat mini program takes appointments, and staff on the hospital's WeChat service account help from 08:00 to 20:00^[5]. Guangzhou lists WhatsApp and WeChat numbers^[10].
4. Get written confirmation of the hospital, date, doctor and what to bring: usually your passport, insurance card and recent medical records. Our guide to booking a hospital appointment in China covers the general steps.

Insurance and direct billing

United Family says it accepts health plans from most major insurance carriers and updates its list of insurers often^[17]. It bills your insurer for each visit and you pay the co-payment or deductible; it direct-bills primary coverage only^[17]. The Changning hospital in Shanghai says it direct-bills more than 40 global insurers^[6], and the Shanghai government's listing for the Pudong hospital names its direct-pay partners, among them Cigna, Allianz, MSH, AIA, Bupa, Aetna, GeoBlue and International SOS^[9]. Before you travel, check that your insurer and plan are on the hospital's direct-billing list and whether a guarantee of payment is needed. Without insurance you can pay by debit or credit card^[17]; see insurance for treatment abroad and paying with Alipay and WeChat.

How prices compare with public hospitals

United Family sets its own prices. Under China's medical price reform, non-public hospitals charge market-regulated prices, while public hospitals may set their own prices only for VIP (特需) and newly introduced services, capped at 10% of all their services, and follow government-guided prices for all other services^[18].

Setting	Typical entry price
Public city-level hospital, ordinary clinic (Shanghai)	¥25 registration[19]
VIP service in a public hospital (Shanghai)	Several hundred yuan[19]
International hospitals and clinics (Shanghai)	Several hundred to over ¥1,000 registration[19]
Qingdao United Family, ordinary outpatient consultation	¥600–900 per visit[20]

Qingdao's published list also gives ¥800–1,500 for a specialist consultation in the clinic or emergency department and ¥3,500 a day for a standard ward bed^[20]. Shanghai United Family explains why it costs more than local hospitals: it points to its quality control and support services (an English-speaking environment, interpreters and direct billing, among others), prices set at international levels for hospitals of similar quality, and the absence of subsidies of the kind that lower costs at local academic hospitals^[21]. It adds that seeing a specialist or emergency doctor costs more than seeing a general practitioner, and that new patients are generally charged more^[21]. The group says it posts prices online so that patients understand the cost of their options^[22]; check the price page of the hospital you plan to use and ask for an itemized estimate. For the wider picture, see international departments explained, public vs private hospitals and costs and price comparison.

When a public hospital may be the better choice

• Complex, rare or high-risk conditions. Shanghai's government guide says city-level public hospitals have the highest medical and academic standing^[19]. For major cancer surgery or a rare diagnosis, compare a large public tertiary hospital before you decide.
• A tight budget. Ordinary public clinics charge government-guided prices^[18], starting at ¥25 registration in Shanghai's city-level hospitals^[19].
• A life-threatening emergency. Public emergency departments run around the clock; the same guide notes that private facilities often do not provide standard emergency services, though leading ones, Shanghai United Family among them, have 24-hour urgent care^[19]. Call 120 or go to the nearest emergency department; see emergencies in China.
• Public-hospital specialists with English support. Almost all district- and city-level public hospitals in Shanghai have VIP departments, some have international departments with bilingual staff, and leading ones accept commercial insurance^[19]. This middle path is described in international departments explained.

United Family fits best when language, continuity and direct billing matter most: family medicine, children's care, maternity and routine specialist visits. Private hospitals also face fewer restrictions on stocking imported original drugs^[19].

Next steps

• Open each hospital's profile from the table for contacts and sources, or compare the two Shanghai hospitals side by side: /compare?ids=shanghai-united-family-hospital-shanghai,shanghai-united-family-pudong-hospital-shanghai.
• See other options in Beijing hospitals for foreigners and Shanghai hospitals for foreigners, or browse the directory for Guangzhou, Tianjin and Qingdao.
• Draft your first message with the inquiry letter tool, then let the planner fit appointments, travel and recovery together.