Average price reduction of 82%： three questions about artificial joint procurement
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 15th Title: Average price reduction of 82%: Three questions about artificial joint procurement
Xinhua News Agency reporters Peng Yunjia, Li Yating and Zhang Jianxin
This is another accurate attack by the state to control the high price and circulation chaos of high-value medical consumables after the centralized collection of coronary stents. The second batch of high-value medical consumables organized by the state announced the results: the average price of artificial hip joint dropped from 35,000 yuan to about 7,000 yuan, and the average price of artificial knee joint dropped from 32,000 yuan to about 5,000 yuan, with an average price reduction of 82%.
In the first year of this centralized procurement, the intended purchase volume was 540,000 sets, accounting for 90% of the total demand of medical institutions in China. When the people are happy, they can’t help asking questions: What is the quality of artificial joints after the price reduction? When will it come in handy? The reporter interviewed industry insiders and medical insurance experts.
Why did the price drop by over 80%?
The average price dropped by 27,000 yuan — — Before the local centralized mining, the average price of artificial hip joint and artificial knee joint was about 30 thousand yuan, and the price of some products even exceeded 90 thousand yuan.
As the second target of the "national team", why can the price of artificial joints squeeze out so much "moisture"? Gao Xue, head of the centralized procurement team of the joint procurement of high-value medical consumables organized by the state, gave the answer:
"Because there are many circulation links, middlemen increase prices at different levels, which leads to the inflated price of artificial joints. In addition, the technical classification and combination of orthopedic consumables are complicated, and expenses such as disinfection and power tools are included in the product price. All unreasonable charges are ultimately paid by patients. "
In order to give consideration to fairness and competition, the "National Team" fully considers the clinical use habits and characteristics of artificial joints, quotes artificial hip joints and artificial knee joints on a system basis, and lists the accompanying service prices separately to improve the transparency of product price composition.
Ding Yilei, director of the Department of Pharmaceutical Price and Bidding and Purchasing of the National Health Insurance Bureau, said that quoting by system can prevent one accessory of individual varieties from winning the bid and the other accessory from failing to win the bid. This can avoid the situation of "pressing the gourd to float the ladle" and reduce the cost burden of patients as a whole.
"The results of this election are basically in line with expectations." Ding Yilei said that through the comparative analysis with the previous cost situation, this centralized procurement not only reduced the inflated price of artificial joints, but also gave enterprises a certain profit and development space, which can be said to have achieved a balance in many aspects.
When can patients use it?
It is expected that from March to April, 2022, patients will be able to use the products of artificial joints with reduced prices.
"In the artificial joint collection, we increase the supply capacity to the enterprise selection rules." Ding Yilei introduced that enterprises with stronger supply capacity and greater demand from medical institutions have been grouped separately to ensure that the supply can be effectively guaranteed and that a considerable proportion of products that clinicians need can be selected, thus achieving a smooth landing.
"In order to ensure the supply of enterprises, we investigate the production capacity and product flow direction of enterprises in advance." Gao Xue introduced that the medical consumables registration system of medical insurance will be launched in the later stage to supervise the delivery of production enterprises, the inventory of operating enterprises and the use of medical institutions, so as to ensure the quality and supply of products.
According to reports, the National Medical Insurance Bureau is formulating relevant safeguard measures for the implementation of follow-up purchases, including the balance retention policy, and taking part of the medical insurance funds saved by centralized purchase to encourage medical institutions.
"Centralized procurement is only the first level in medical reform." Zhan Jifu, known as the "trader" of Sanming medical reform in the industry and then the deputy mayor of Sanming City, said that the funds saved by centralized purchasing will be used to adjust and rationalize the price of medical services, improve the salary of medical staff, reduce the cost of medical treatment for the people and increase the proportion of reimbursement, so as to benefit the people, medical personnel and medical institutions.
Can the quality be guaranteed after the price reduction?
According to the estimation of the National Medical Insurance Bureau, according to the purchase price in 2020, the purchase amount of artificial hip and knee joints in public medical institutions is about 20 billion yuan, and it is expected to save 16 billion yuan.
Faced with the market of tens of billions of yuan, can the quality of artificial joints be guaranteed after the price reduction?
Ying Yazhen, vice president of the National Medical Security Research Institute, said that the quality of artificial joint products that can enter the centralized procurement process has been tested and clinically tested by relevant departments, which is a prerequisite for products to enter the market, and these products that enter the centralized procurement are all reported by medical institutions, indicating that they have been clinically understood and are being used.
"In recent years, the technology of hip and knee replacement surgery has been popularized, the production level of enterprises has improved, the number of manufacturers has increased, and the competition is relatively full." Zhang Tiejun, director of joint procurement of high-value medical consumables organized by the state and deputy director of Tianjin Medical Security Bureau, said.
In this artificial joint collection, both domestic and foreign-funded enterprises have products to be selected, and the selection rate of enterprises has reached 92%. According to industry insiders, among the selected enterprises, there are both enterprises commonly used by medical institutions and emerging enterprises.
Different from the coronary stent, this collection includes four categories: ceramic-ceramic hip joint products, ceramic-polyethylene hip joint products, alloy-polyethylene hip joint products and knee joint products. A total of 5,804 medical institutions have reported the demand brand of artificial hip joint and knee joint and the demand for the next year. The "national team" collects according to the information reported by medical institutions, and respects the use habits of clinicians to the utmost extent.
"From the results of the selection, the matching degree between the selected products and the needs of medical institutions is over 80%." Ding Yilei said that a considerable number of selected products can be seamlessly connected to medical institutions without any switching, ensuring the continuity of clinical use.