Policy

Eleven Chinese provincial-level jurisdictions had published prices for brain-computer interface medical services. The invasive implantation fee runs from RMB 4,389 at the lowest hospital tier in Sichuan to RMB 7,980 in Beijing (approx. $650 to $1,180 at RMB 6.74 to the dollar, the mid-August 2026 rate), and the non-invasive fitting fee from RMB 643 to 990. Sichuan, Hainan, Qinghai and Xinjiang tier prices by hospital grade, Shanghai leaves the amount to each hospital, and Jiangsu's three figures appear only in a July 2025 draft. Beijing lists all three fees as Class A at four named hospitals; Zhejiang covers the fitting fee as Class B, limited to prosthetic fitting. Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hainan, Qinghai and Xinjiang assign Class C, Shanghai excludes the fees, and Hubei and Guangdong have prices without a coverage decision.

Two national standards for brain-computer interfaces took effect in China on 1 August 2026, the first foundational standards the field has had there. GB/T 47023 defines a reference architecture for BCI systems; GB/T 47127 sets a common format for multimodal data, down to directory structure and file naming. Both carry the GB/T prefix, marking them as recommended rather than mandatory, so they bind no one by law and work only as far as industry and procurement choose to adopt them.