With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, oral health has received more attention.
Can the price of dental implants be "cooled" by the new plan issued by the Medical Insurance Bureau?
"Dental implants" are still in demand by many patients despite their high price, due to their appearance and service life being comparable to those of real teeth.
However, problems such as irregular charges and heavy cost burdens in the field of oral implantation have long existed, which have become a pain point for people's livelihood.
The National Medical Security Administration recently announced the "Notice on Carrying out Special Treatment of Oral Implant Medical Service Charges and Consumables Prices (Draft for Comment)".
The "Notice" proposes that it is necessary to promote the centralized procurement of dental implants, and to do a good job in price regulation around the whole process of dental implants, so as to effectively reduce the burden on patients.
Why are dental implants expensive? How far is it from "freedom of dental implants"?
Dental implants are coming, will the price drop?
How expensive are dental implants?
What effect does the public consultation of the National Medical Insurance Administration have on the price reduction?
Dental implants are a technique for restoring missing teeth.
The price of dental implants depends on both the material and the skill of the doctor.
The material of the implant is mostly titanium alloy, but the materials of different brands are different, and the production process is different.
In general, imported implants are more expensive than domestic implants. Among imported brands, the price of European and American implants is higher than that of other Asian brands, so the price range varies from 6,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan.
Dental implants are expensive not only for materials such as implants, but also for surgery and restorative treatments.
The person in charge of many dental hospitals said that the key to a dental implant operation is the technical level of the doctor. A professional dental implant doctor generally needs more than ten years of study and clinical experience.
Therefore, we know why dental implants are so expensive. One is the expensive materials, and the other is the expensive surgery. Therefore, there are cases where the total cost of a patient's lower row teeth is more than 140,000 yuan.
Some people say "one tooth, one car", what else makes it expensive?
How much does it cost to plant a tooth?
Jiang Changsong, Assistant Dean of the National Medical Security Research Institute of Capital Medical University: The cost of a dental implant varies greatly in various medical institutions at all levels in various places. Maybe 30,000 to 40,000.
The cost of medical services, this part is that in some places, the charges are superimposed on a single item, and some places may be packaged. For example, 10,000 yuan for dental implants includes both consumables and labor.
Why do you say it's not standard?
It is very messy, there is no particularly clear statement, and the price range of this dental implant is also very discrete.
Where is the "new" in the new plan of the National Medical Insurance Administration?
The "Draft for Comments" released by the National Medical Insurance Bureau mentioned in the name that "special management of medical service charges and consumable prices" should be carried out.
This is to target the two pain points of expensive dental implants.
Let's look at the price of consumables first.
Dental implants are not covered by medical insurance, so how can the material cost be reduced?
It is mentioned in the "Draft for Comments" that it is necessary to carefully organize the centralized procurement of dental implant consumables, and establish an inter-provincial procurement alliance for dental implant consumables.
The "centralized procurement" mentioned here is the centralized procurement of medical insurance with the amount.
So, how does medical insurance carry the amount?
How to "purchase" it?
How does medical insurance carry the amount? How to centralize procurement?
This "Notice" clarifies that the centralized procurement of dental implants is led by the Sichuan Provincial Medical Security Bureau to form an inter-provincial procurement alliance for dental implant consumables, and all provinces should participate.
The centralized procurement of dental implant consumables adheres to the basic principle of integrating recruitment and procurement and linking quantity and price, and fully considers the characteristics of dental implant consumables production, supply and clinical use, and guides enterprises to compete fairly.
The centralized procurement is based on a complete set of implant systems, including implants, restoration abutments, and accessories such as covering screws, healing abutments, transfer rods, and substitutes.
Jiang Changsong, Assistant Dean of the National Medical Security Research Institute of Capital Medical University: Then this volume procurement is nominally a provincial-level alliance volume procurement, but in fact it is a variety of medical institutions at all levels across the country, including all our implants. Supply companies and crown supply companies will all participate in this special treatment of the oral cavity.
Therefore, the dosage market this time is the national dosage, which is believed to be attractive to manufacturers, medical institutions, stomatologists, and patients.
By purchasing with quantity, you can form a reasonable price of your own.
National Medical Insurance Bureau: To complete the collection of dental implants before the end of this year
The reporter also learned from the National Medical Insurance Bureau that at present, the Sichuan Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau has reported the relevant work plan of this centralized procurement to the National Medical Insurance Bureau, and the National Medical Insurance Bureau will conduct extensive research on the plan.
According to the current work arrangement, the collective collection of dental implants will be completed by the end of this year.
Can "collective collection with medical insurance" make the price of dental implants "big dive"?
When it comes to "centralized procurement", the intuitive feeling of ordinary people is that the price is going to drop.
So, will oral implants usher in a "big diving price reduction" through centralized procurement?
Jiang Changsong, Assistant Dean of the National Medical Security Research Institute of Capital Medical University: The first part of the special treatment is to standardize the charges for dental implant medical services, and the second part is the procurement of implant materials.
Procurement with volume is a systematic project led by the medical insurance department. It requires scientific product grouping, reasonable competition and selection rules, and improvement of supporting measures after the selection, so as to squeeze out the artificially high price.
Previously, the centralized procurement of medical devices such as cardiac stents and artificial joints has brought about substantial price reductions.
Among them, the average price of cardiac stents has dropped from about 13,000 yuan to about 700 yuan, the average price of artificial hip joints has dropped from 35,000 yuan to about 7,000 yuan, and the average price of artificial knee joints has dropped from 32,000 yuan to about 5,000 yuan.
So, will oral implants usher in a "big diving price reduction" through centralized procurement?
Jiang Changsong, Assistant Dean of the National Medical Insurance Research Institute of Capital Medical University: In cardiac stent implantation and artificial joint replacement, the cost of consumables accounts for 60% to 70% of the total cost. Therefore, reducing the price of consumables can greatly reduce the operation cost of patients. .
About one-third of dental implants are materials (costs), and two-thirds are labor and technical costs.
Therefore, it is difficult to completely reduce the cost of a dental implant by only purchasing consumables in quantity.
Can private institutions with a high market share participate in centralized procurement?
Patients who have experience in dental implants know that many private medical institutions have carried out dental implant projects.
The notice from the Medical Insurance Bureau also proposed to promote the centralized procurement of dental implants, and strengthen the supervision and guidance of oral implant prices in private medical institutions.
So here comes the question. In the past, the centralized procurement of medicines and consumables was mainly concentrated in public medical institutions. Will private institutions be willing to participate in this centralized procurement?
Jiang Changsong, Assistant Dean of the National Medical Security Research Institute of Capital Medical University: At present, the service volume of oral implantation in private hospitals is more than that in public hospitals, and the volume of oral implantation services in private medical institutions can account for two-thirds.
This time, we encourage private medical institutions to participate in both centralized procurement and price governance.
This time it is equivalent to a market in the whole country, all planting markets in exchange for a relatively cheap price.
This is also very beneficial for the future cost savings of private medical institutions.
With the expansion of the aging demand, the future implant volume of private medical institutions, that is, the volume of dental implant services, will definitely have a very large increase. In this case, if you can purchase a more favorable price than now, it will save costs. , attracting patients, and creating market reputation are all beneficial.
The price of "tooth" has been reduced, can the "service fee and surgery fee" be reduced?
The price of dental implants is reduced through centralized procurement. How can the relevant service prices be reasonable and transparent?
The "Notice" also pointed out that the cost of implant placement, crown placement, and bone graft surgery, which have been strongly reflected by the masses and have a heavy cost burden, are mainly reduced.
Among them, if the government-guided price of public medical institutions is significantly higher than the average price of private medical institutions in the region, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of public welfare, conduct special demonstrations, and focus on price reduction.
The prices of services such as dental implants in private medical institutions shall be adjusted by the market, and the authenticity, timeliness, and integrity of publicized price information shall be guaranteed, and patients shall not be deceived by false subsidies, low prices and other price means.
Of course, for private stomatological hospitals in the region with relatively good collection and reporting of dental implants and outstanding economical implantation costs, the local medical insurance bureau can publicize and disclose prices and costs on the official website, and guide patients to go to these medical institutions for implantation. tooth.