Average price reduction of 82% National collection of artificial joints recently landed in many provinces

Following the collection of cardiac coronary stents, the landing of the second batch of high-value medical consumables artificial joints collected by the national organization has recently been implemented one after another in various provinces.

　

In September 2021, the second batch of state-organized collection of high-value medical consumables announced the results, with the average price of artificial hip joints dropping from 35,000 yuan to around 7,000 yuan, and the average price of artificial knee joints dropping from 32,000 yuan to around 5,000 yuan, an average price reduction of 82%.

The state organised collection of artificial joints, including artificial hips and artificial knees, with an intended procurement volume of 540,000 sets in the first year, with an estimated cost saving of 16 billion yuan.

Previously, the Office of Joint Procurement of High-Value Medical Consumables of the State Organisation had issued a document requiring the implementation of the successful results of the pooled procurement from March to April 2022, with the specific implementation date to be determined by each region.

At present, Hainan Province, Guangdong Province, Shaanxi Province and Zhejiang Province have already announced the implementation date.

　　Hainan Province has already implemented the implementation of 80% less patient payment

　　As China's aging society continues to deepen, the demand for artificial hip and knee joints will continue to increase. The implementation of the collection of high-value medical consumables will further reduce the burden on patients and improve the quality of life of the people.

　　At 9:00 on March 30, a patient suffering from ischemic necrosis of the right femoral head was pushed into the operating room at Haikou Hospital of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital in Haikou, Hainan.

According to the doctor, the patient who underwent the surgery to replace the artificial total hip joint is a woman, 70 years old, from Chengmai County, Hainan Province. About five years ago, she noticed that she was experiencing mobility problems and pain in her right leg, and the best solution given by the doctors was to replace the artificial hip joint.

However, the patient and her partner are both fishermen with limited income, and the high cost of consumables for the artificial joint made it difficult for the old couple, so they had to put up with the pain and delayed the operation.

　　Cai Zhengyao, a family member of the patient: The hospital said that you have to prepare more than 30,000 yuan to remove the reimbursement, which is also a heavy burden.

　　

On March 25, Hainan Province took the lead in the country after the implementation of the collection of artificial joint prices, the old man himself as long as more than 5,000 yuan to successfully replace the hip joint, out-of-pocket costs reduced by 80%.

It is understood that in Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Haikou Hospital alone, there are more than 100 operations to replace artificial hip joints every year, and most of those who need hip replacement are people over 60 years old.

　　

Wang Ting, Director of the Department of Orthopaedics at Haikou Hospital, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital: Especially for patients from rural areas, these patients are often unable to undergo surgery because of the price factor, which is a pity. Therefore, from our doctor's original intention, we also hope that more patients can receive effective and regular treatment.

　　

A total of 35 medical institutions in Hainan province participated in the collection of artificial joints, including public and private hospitals, and the range of products procured were, artificial hip joints and artificial knee joints.

Hainan Province, the first year the total procurement of 3356 sets, is expected to save annual procurement funds of 70 million yuan.

　　

The reporter in the Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Haikou Hospital's medical division of the same product similar artificial joints before and after the national collection of prices for comparison, two artificial hip prices from the previous 45,000 yuan and 41,000 yuan fell to more than 6,900 yuan and 6,300 yuan, respectively, three artificial knee prices also from the previous 29,000 yuan to 19,000 yuan fell to The price of the three types of artificial knee joints also dropped from over 29,000 to 19,000 to over 5,400.

　　

Zhu Yongfeng, deputy director of the Medical Reform Office of Hainan Province: In the past, hospitals bought individually and had very weak bargaining power; now they buy nationally and have strong bargaining power (because) the Chinese market is huge.

Secondly, individual enterprises do not have reasonable expectations, now I clearly tell you how much this product can be used, so that enterprises will save a lot of clinical promotion costs, marketing costs, so that the price will come down, so that the people get real benefits.

　　

The supporting measures for collective procurement are more detailed and more respectful of the principles of clinical use

　　

On March 30, the National Health Insurance Bureau and the National Health and Wellness Commission released "Opinions on the State Organization's Centralized Volume Procurement of High-Value Medical Consumables and Supporting Measures for the Use of Artificial Joints".

The Opinions require that the procurement, distribution, use and accompanying services of artificial joints be closely integrated with the characteristics of artificial joints, that the strategic purchasing role of the health insurance fund be brought into play, and that a variety of policy measures be used to promote the smooth implementation of the results of the selected centralised procurement of artificial joints.

　　The "Opinions" require that the selected products for the artificial joint procurement be listed on the centralized procurement platform at the provincial level according to the selected prices of "with service fees" and "without service fees", with the costs of distribution and special tools for surgery included in the selected prices.

Local health insurance departments should promptly organize medical institutions to sign procurement agreements with the selected companies.

In accordance with the dynamic adjustment mechanism for medical service prices, the total amount of price adjustments may be tilted towards surgical items related to artificial joint replacement in 2022 for areas assessed to be eligible to trigger price adjustments.

All regions should press down on the supply and distribution responsibilities of the selected enterprises and distribution enterprises, strengthen the docking between supply and demand, and guarantee clinical use.

　　The deputy director of the Medical Reform Office of Hainan Province, Zhu Yongfeng: We are now working closely with the drug supervision department, all the products entering the collection as a key regulatory category to strengthen supervision and ensure quality and safety.