New news about the sixth batch of national procurement of consumables has just come out! There are changes in the centralized procurement of consumables in 26 provinces

The sixth batch of national centralized procurement of high-value consumables and an alliance procurement of traditional Chinese medicine needles covering 26 provinces have kicked off.

Let's first talk about the sixth batch of national procurement of consumables with the highest specifications. This time, the target is two types of high-tech and expensive consumables: drug-coated balloons and urological interventional consumables.

What is a drug-coated balloon?

Just imagine it as a "miniature balloon with medicine".

During the operation, the doctor first delivers this small, uninflated balloon to the area where the blood vessel is blocked, and then applies pressure to it to make it expand and open up the blocked blood vessel.

The crucial step is that the surface of this balloon is coated with drugs that inhibit the re-narrowing of blood vessels. During the tens of seconds of expansion, the drugs will be rapidly released and penetrate into the vessel walls, which is equivalent to "brushing" a layer of drug film on the diseased vessel walls to prevent them from growing and blocking again in the future.

This centralized procurement has made it very detailed, including those for the coronary arteries of the heart, for arteriovenous fistulas in dialysis patients, and for the blood vessels in the thighs (above the knees) and calves (below the knees), which can be described as a "precise strike".

What are urological interventional consumables?

You can understand it as the "special Operations toolkit" for urologists.

For instance, when performing a ureteroscopy to remove a stone, the doctor needs a set of handy tools: first, a guide wire is used to identify the path; Then, establish a stable "working channel" with an interventional sheath; When encountering a narrow area, a balloon needs to be used to expand the catheter to stretch it out. When taking stones, they are fished out with a stone basket. There are also more advanced disposable flexible ureteroscopy catheters that can bend to clearly see the inner corners of the kidneys. And a nephrostomy kit, used to establish a temporary passage from the skin of the waist to the kidneys.

This centralized procurement aims to bring down the prices of this entire set of "toolkits".

At present, the centralized procurement has entered the most crucial stage of demand filling. Hospitals across the country need to report approximately how much of these products they will need in the coming year. This means that the official bidding for quotations and the final price announcement are getting closer and closer.

The 26-province alliance procurement - "Small Needles" undergo a "major transformation".

If the national centralized procurement is about targeting the "big players", then the 26-province alliance procurement led by Guangxi is about sorting out the "capillaries" of the medical system. This time, the goal is very traditional but also very popular - traditional Chinese medicine needles.

What exactly are you purchasing? It mainly includes four types of needles: the most familiar acupuncture needle, the intradermal needle for shallow needling, the blade needle for loosening adhesions, and the plum blossom needle, which is like a small hammer and used for percussion needling.

What are the new highlights of the rules? The "secondary quotation" gave enterprises a breathing space.

One notable change in this alliance procurement is that the rule design appears more "moderate" and "rational". It introduced the mechanism of "secondary quotation". In simple terms, if a company fails to win the bid on its first offer, it should not lose heart in a hurry. There is still another chance to adjust the offer based on the situation and strive again.

This provides enterprises with a "margin for error", avoiding the extreme situation where they are completely eliminated due to a single quotation mistake, and also ensures that the final bidding process is not so fierce. This conveys a clear signal: Centralized procurement is no longer merely about pursuing "low prices", but rather seeking a better balance among reducing prices, ensuring supply and maintaining quality.

Policy barometer.

When we look at these two events together, we can read out a lot of profound information.

From small balloons used in the heart and blood vessels to a fine needle for acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine, the national volume-based procurement model has covered all medical consumables of high, medium and low value.

This means that through centralized procurement to squeeze out price water and reduce the burden on patients has become a regular and institutionalized reform, and no consumable can be a "lawless place".

The emergence of rules such as "secondary quotations" indicates that the organizers of centralized procurement are becoming increasingly experienced and their methods are becoming more refined. They realized that to ensure the hospital could have long-term and stable access to reliable quality products in the future, it was necessary to provide the enterprise with a reasonable profit margin so that it could survive and develop healthily. This is a concept of "sustainable development".

The large-scale centralized procurement of traditional Chinese medicine needles is itself a strong signal. It means that the country is using modern medical insurance payment and management methods to support and regulate the development of traditional Chinese medicine.

On the one hand, reducing the price of needles through centralized procurement can directly lower the cost of acupuncture treatment, making more people willing to try and benefit from it. On the other hand, the state is also adjusting the prices of traditional Chinese medicine medical services simultaneously, making the technical labor of doctors more valuable. This "decline" and "rise" are precisely paving the way and building Bridges for the development of traditional Chinese medicine.