Recently, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced that starting from April 1st, work-related injury insurance will be directly settled for cross provincial medical treatment in all prefecture level cities. Relying on the National Work Injury Insurance Remote Medical Settlement Information System, various regions are gradually realizing the direct settlement of inter provincial medical expenses, hospitalization and rehabilitation expenses, and auxiliary equipment configuration expenses for injured workers holding their social security cards. According to the notice issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Health Commission on the comprehensive implementation of direct settlement of work-related injury insurance for cross provincial and cross regional medical treatment, starting from April 1, 2025, direct settlement of work-related injury insurance for cross provincial and cross regional medical treatment will be organized in all prefecture level cities in various provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (hereinafter referred to as the province). Each region will gradually implement the direct settlement of medical expenses for injured workers who hold social security cards (including electronic social security cards, the same below) across provinces and regions. During the 15th Five Year Plan period, based on the actual operation, the number of online agreement institutions will be gradually increased, and cross provincial direct settlement of ordinary outpatient services will be carried out in a timely manner. Relevant policies will be more perfect, the functions of the work-related injury insurance remote medical treatment system will be more complete, the handling services will be more efficient, the fund operation will be safer, and a cross provincial direct settlement system suitable for work-related injury insurance will be fully established. The notice points out that all regions should gradually achieve full coverage of all three-level work-related injury agreement medical institutions in three steps based on the basic conditions of the agreement institutions: from April 1, 2025 to the end of the same year, at least one work-related injury insurance agreement medical institution in the original pilot areas with more than 30% of the three-level and newly included areas will support direct settlement across provinces; By the end of 2026, 50% of the original pilot areas and over 30% of the newly included areas will support cross provincial direct settlement for medical institutions under the three-level work-related injury insurance agreement; By the end of the 15th Five Year Plan, in principle, all third level work-related injury insurance agreement medical institutions in all regions will support direct settlement across provinces. In principle, by the end of 2026, more than 50% of rehabilitation and assistive device configuration agreement institutions in each province will support cross provincial direct settlement, and all will be achieved by the end of the 15th Five Year Plan. Each province should promote more specialized agreement institutions for occupational diseases, fractures, burns, and plastic surgery to support cross provincial direct settlement based on the medical needs of injured workers. The notice specifies that the scope of direct settlement for cross provincial medical treatment includes hospitalization work-related injury medical expenses, hospitalization work-related injury rehabilitation expenses, and auxiliary equipment configuration expenses that occur at the place of medical treatment without third-party liability. Among them, hospitalization work-related injury medical expenses and hospitalization work-related injury rehabilitation expenses shall comply with relevant regulations such as the list of work-related injury insurance diagnosis and treatment projects, the list of work-related injury insurance drugs, the standards for work-related injury insurance hospitalization services, and work-related injury rehabilitation service projects at the place of medical treatment; The configuration of auxiliary equipment shall comply with the relevant regulations of the auxiliary equipment configuration catalog in the insured place. The hospitalization meal allowance and transportation and accommodation expenses required for medical treatment outside the pooling area due to cross provincial referrals shall be reimbursed by the local handling agency in accordance with the policies of the insured area, and shall not be included in the direct settlement scope of cross provincial medical treatment. Notification requirements: Employees who have participated in work-related injury insurance and have completed work injury identification, work injury recurrence confirmation, work injury rehabilitation confirmation, or auxiliary equipment configuration confirmation and are living or working in other places for a long time, as well as being referred to hospitals in other places, can apply for direct settlement of inter provincial medical expenses. The human resources and social security department shall implement record management for personnel who request medical treatment in other places, and do a good job in managing medical funds and information system construction in other places. (New Society)