Large price cuts for cardiac stents benefit more than patients

Original title: The price of cardiac stents is reduced considerably, which benefits more than the patients.

Cardiac stents are expensive and a sales channelcostToo high, contains too muchThe search for rentsCost, today, buying in volume can reduce these costs.

Recently, a news story that “the heart stent worth 13,000 yuan has been reduced to 700 yuan” was rushed to hot searches, raising concern. The national centralized procurement of high-value medical consumables was reportedly carried out on November 5 in Tianjin. In this centralized purchase, the price of cardiovascular stents has dropped considerably, from an average price of about 13,000 yuan to about 700 yuan. Compared to 2019, the samecompanyThe sameproductThe average price cut is 93% and it is estimated to save 10.9 billion yuan based on the expected purchase volume.

　　The original price is high due to the high cost of sale.

Quantity provisioning can be implemented first because the quantity is sufficient.

Cardiac stents are for cardiovascular patients, relatedreportIt shows that the current number of cardiovascular patients in China has reached 330 million; From 2009 to 2019, the number of coronary heart disease operations in China has increased from 230,000 to more than 1 million.IncreaseBetween 10% -20%. Based on the use of approximately 1.5 stents per surgical stent, China will consume 1.5 million cardiac stents per year.

However, for a long time, hispriceIt has always been a “heart disease” of domestic patientsBrandpriceMiddle numberAround 14,000 yuan, the price of imported brands is between 11,400 and 23,300 yuan. It is not cheap compared to other countries.But the merchant’s factory price is only 2000 yuan, the reason for the high price is sales.Channel costToo tall.

In reality, the average patient does not have the ability to identify the cardiac stent and can only trust the doctor to choose. Companies deliver productsattorneyQuotientSubscription，AgentNaturally, I will find ways to influence the choices of some doctors. The whole process lacks proper oversight, and you can imagine the rent-seeking space, which has led to a gradual increase in costs.

The inflated sale price consumes many health insurance costs and also increases people’s medical expenses. Data shows that Chinese medical consumablesmarketThe scale is 320 billion yuan, including 150 billion yuan for high-value medical consumables. The total cost of coronary stents is about 15 billion yuan, which is 1/10 of the total cost of high-value medical consumables in the country and 1/20 of medical consumables.

The quantity is large, expensive and there are many manufacturing companies, so naturally it is the first target of mass purchases. Therefore, the cardiac stent has become the first collection of high-value medical consumables in the country.

　The essence of medical treatment isInformation serviceindustry

The benefits of this volume purchase are obvious.

First, unnecessary medical treatment is reduced.Medical industry, Especially the inspection, diagnosis and treatment part, the essence isInformation serviceindustry. And its high degree of professionalism has largely caused the asymmetry of information and, therefore, generates rental-seeking spaces. For example, the media has previously reported that some doctors have installed unnecessary stents in patients for their personal benefit. This situation can be avoided by reducing the number of intermediate links in volume contracting.

Second, it makes it easier to obtain treatments that are really necessary. The actual demand for cardiac stents in China far exceeds 1.5 million. Data show that the incidence of coronary heart disease in European and American countries is similar to that of China, but the number of stents used per million people is approximately 3,500, while China only has 600. Currently, only the 10% of patients with coronary artery disease in hospital emergency departments have used coronary stents, compared to 99% in Europe and America. Therefore, the price reduction will not only reduce the burden of health insurance expenses, but also allow more people to receive treatment.

Many people are concerned that lower prices will affect manufacturers’ quality and innovation. In fact, the cardiac stent is a mature product, technically easier to monitor, and it is not difficult to find the responsible person by retrospective methods, and quality can be guaranteed.In addition, the innovation of the manufacturer comes fromprofit, After buying in quantity, the price of a single product is lower, butprofitableIn the case of sales, if the utilization rate reaches the European and American level, the total market will expand 6 times and instead, your total profit will increase.Profit marginsInvest in research and development.

Furthermore, objectively speaking, Chinese manufacturers do not have much originality in the development of drugs and medical devices, in the medium and long term, there is no need to worry that lower prices will affect their original research and development capabilities. In addition, once the price is reduced, companies will turn to cost competition, which will test their level of technology. Acquisitions with volume will also promote increased industry concentration.ReorganizationThe survival of the fittest also favors the improvement of the level of the entire industry.

Of course, there is always an information asymmetry in the medical field. When the interests of some physicians are harmed, even if they do not comply, they may resist gently.In reality, a coronary stent operation requires the cooperation of several members of the medical staff to complete the operation, who wear thick lead clothing and are exposed X-ray.jobs, The cost of surgery is not high. For that end,KnowledgeThe value of surgery should be reflected and the cost of surgery should be increased considerably to avoid harming the doctor.Work motivation。

For this reason, the National Health Insurance Office also stated that it will guide medical institutions to properly tilt the performance evaluation of cardiac surgeons. How should it incline? This may be the next topic to be discussed in the field of public opinion.

(Source: Beijing News)

(Responsible editor: DF524)