Our reporter Zhang Min Zhao Binbin
On September 8, the "Notice on Carrying out Special Treatment of Oral Implant Medical Service Fees and Consumables Prices" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") published on the website of the National Medical Insurance Bureau pointed out that price regulation will be done around the entire process of dental implants.
"At present, third-level public medical institutions have completed the whole process of planting. In areas where the overall price of medical services is generally higher than 4,500 yuan per capsule, targeted measures should be taken to introduce them into a new range of no more than 4,500 yuan per capsule. Public medical care below the third level Institutions’ regulatory targets should be reduced accordingly with reference to the local policy on tiered pricing of medical services.”
"The high price of medical services is an important factor leading to higher charges for dental implants." An industry insider emphasized to this reporter that it should be pointed out that each 4,500 yuan does not include implants and crowns and other consumables.
Announcement of the whole-process cost management target
On September 8, the National Medical Insurance Bureau also issued a policy interpretation of the "Notice on Carrying out the Special Governance of Oral Implantation Medical Service Charges and Consumables Prices", which introduced the governance goals of the whole process of oral implantation.
At present, the cost of oral implants is roughly divided into three parts: implants, crowns and medical services.
According to the National Medical Insurance Bureau, the prices of implants and crowns need to be generated through centralized procurement and bidding. Therefore, the "Notice" does not artificially set specific quantitative targets.
At present, public medical institutions purchase high-end brand implants at 4,000 to 6,000 yuan per set, and other implants at 2,000 to 3,500 yuan per set. There is room for inflated prices in the circulation process, and prices will drop to varying degrees after centralized procurement.
Most of the dental crowns purchased by public medical institutions from third-party processing factories are about 1,000 yuan.
The cost of medical services accounts for a relatively high proportion of the overall cost of dental implants.
According to the preliminary results of the recent nationwide registration survey, taking a single routine implantation in public medical institutions in various provinces as an example, the average cost of medical services exceeds 6,000 yuan, and the cost of some provinces and cities exceeds 9,000 yuan, which has become an important factor for expensive dental implants. one of the reasons.
In accordance with the requirements of the "Notice", after the results of the centralized implant procurement and crown bidding are produced, each provincial medical security department will further formulate and publish the price control targets for the whole process of dental implants in the region (including implants, crowns, and medical services). ).
Through comprehensive measures for the three components that constitute the cost of dental implants, the burden of dental implant costs for the masses will be effectively reduced.
Prior to August 18, the National Medical Insurance Bureau issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Special Treatment of Oral Implantation Medical Service Charges and Consumables Prices" (Draft for Comment), pointing out that it is necessary to standardize oral implantation medical services and consumables. Service price regulation, careful organization and centralized procurement of dental implant consumables.
On September 2, the National Medical Insurance Bureau issued a notice on the public consultation on the "Notice on Carrying out Special Treatment of Oral Implantation Medical Service Charges and Consumables Prices (Draft for Comment)". The notice showed 232 public feedbacks on the previously released implant Tooth price management policy made a statement.
On the whole, the society generally supports and affirms the special governance work in the field of oral implantation.
Among them, about 60% of the feedback supported the development of special governance.
The masses have reacted strongly to issues such as "astronomical charges" in the field of oral implantation, propaganda of false subsidies, deceiving patients with low-priced advertisements, and buying and selling customers with "benefits" and "referral fees", calling for the implementation of the special treatment plan for oral implantation as soon as possible.
About 30% of the feedback provided constructive comments while expressing support.
A considerable number of feedbacks believe that the overall cost of implant surgery and consumables should be controlled within 10,000 yuan, and the composition should fully reflect the main role of technical labor services such as implant placement and crown placement.
In addition, about 10% of the feedback expressed disapproval or reservations.
Some believe that the high hospital charges are reasonable, while others worry that the price reduction will affect the enthusiasm and service quality of the hospital.
Despite the support ratio of 60%, the collection of dental implants still faces severe practical challenges.
"Dental implants are not covered by medical insurance and are self-funded projects. Private hospitals account for a high proportion of the dental implant market, which is an important factor that makes it difficult to promote dental implant-related policies." Li Mingjin, a senior investment consultant at Jufeng Investment Consulting, told the "Securities Daily" reporter.
"The difficulty of centralized procurement lies not only in reducing the price of consumables, but also in the provision of high-quality medical services and the training of dentists." Zhou Zhenjun, secretary of the board of directors of Keen Dental, added to the "Securities Daily" reporter.
Implemented in some areas
The "Notice" clarifies that an inter-provincial procurement alliance for dental implant consumables will be established.
The Sichuan Provincial Medical Security Bureau led the establishment of an inter-provincial procurement alliance for dental implant consumables, and all provinces should participate.
The release of the "Notice" means that the implementation of centralized dental implant collection will be accelerated.
It is understood that the centralized procurement of dental implant consumables has taken the lead in cities such as Ningbo, Zhejiang, Bengbu, Anhui, etc., but has not yet been rolled out nationwide.
The "Five Questions and Five Answers" on the Price Limit Payment Policy of Implant Dental Insurance issued by Ningbo Medical Insurance Bureau of Zhejiang Province in April 2022 summarizes the price limit payment policy of dental implant medical insurance into three aspects: first, "Agreed brand, agreed "Price", limited to 3,000 yuan/pc for domestic brands and 3,500/pc for imported brands; the second is that the dental implants of the brands agreed by the 100 medical institutions that have signed the contract, regardless of whether you use the medical insurance account to pay or pay in cash, the same price in the same city; For dental implants in the brand catalog, the medical insurance account will not be paid for over the years.
Bengbu City, Anhui Province also included dental implants in centralized procurement. After centralized negotiation, the cost of dental implant materials (including a set of dental crowns and implants) decreased by an average of 84.17%, with a maximum decrease of 89.5%.
An industry insider told the "Securities Daily" reporter that different medical institutions have different proportions of consumables and treatment costs.
On the one hand, the rate of increase in the price of consumables is different; on the other hand, the cost of treatment has a certain correlation with the professional level of the doctor, the nature and level of the hospital.
The National Medical Insurance Bureau's requirement for the centralized procurement of dental implants is "separation of technology and consumption". The purpose is to control the total price of the whole process of dental implants. Ultimately, the overall package method should be adopted to control the cost.
Zhou Zhenjun told the "Securities Daily" reporter that Keen Dental has been in line with the direction of national policies and has been purchasing consumables in a centralized manner for more than two years. Overall, the company's comprehensive cost has dropped by about 50% compared with the previous one. The cost of consumables And the proportion of medical expenses is about 3:7.
Centralized procurement promotes accelerated market reshuffle
Under the guidance of the centralized procurement policy, the dental implant industry chain has begun to accelerate the reshuffle.
Zhao Xilong, senior investment consultant of Jufeng Investment Consulting, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the current dental implant products are mainly foreign brands from the United States, Switzerland, Germany and other countries, and domestic dental implants started relatively late.
The price of many imported brands of dental implants is much higher than that of domestic brands, or one of the important reasons why the price of dental implants has remained high.
What impact will the promotion of centralized dental implant procurement have on the development of related listed companies?
Meiya Optoelectronics said in response to investors' questions on September 7 that the promotion of the national policy on centralized procurement of dental implants and other projects will reduce the cost of high-end dental services to a certain extent in the future.
Objectively speaking, the decline in high-end service costs will bring about a rapid increase in industry demand, which in turn will promote the increase in demand for related key equipment.
"Yimao" Tongce Medical, which has attracted much market attention, told investors that the company is a leading company that provides oral medical services, and its specific businesses include orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, implantation, comprehensive and other multi-disciplinary oral medical services.
Among them, the centralized procurement involved in the dental implant business will not only bring about price changes, but also promote demand growth and form a synergistic effect with the oral business.
"The consumables required for a dental implant include implants, implant abutments, crowns, restoration materials, etc., among which the implant is the core. In the future, with the implementation of the centralized procurement of dental implants, it will be conducive to the replacement of domestic dental implant consumables. The import-based pattern is expected to break." Li Mingjin told reporters.
(Securities Daily)