High value medical consumables centralized purchasing anti bad money drives out good money

The Ministry of health, which lasted for 9 months of high-value work of centralized purchasing of medical supplies, recently concluded.

The purchase price has reached the lowest value in recent years.

Large medical equipment, high-value consumable centralized procurement is for purchasing behavior, reduce the burden of patients with medical costs.

The Ministry of health to focus on further strengthening the procurement management for medical devices: notice of proposed, non-profit medical institutions, shall participate in the centralized procurement of medical devices. How to make this policy implementation to avoid drug pooled procurement problems occur, you need to keep exploring.

Note to prevent implicit quality

Over the past few years, on drugs, medical devices, high-value medical consumables of centralized purchasing received a certain effect, but this desire to compare the effectiveness and the masses, or there is a gap, therefore, have a base price of the product.

But be aware that the lowest price of tender in objectively easily "bad money drives out good money" results.

Competent authorities of the main starting point is to reduce the purchase price by bidding, but years of practice has shown that price down, product quality, particularly the hidden quality also declined, many high-quality products but were turned away.

This is the current centralized procurement system revealed that the most serious problems.

Medical device quality and price are a pair of contradictions in the bidding process, how to investigate the product quality is a challenge.

Regulations, medical devices must meet the safety and effectiveness requirements of the two aspects, and the security indicators, especially the level of implicit security indicators, depending on the manufacturer's quality system is to run efficiently. Ensure the effective operation of the quality system is the need to pay the costs, the need for advanced and complete hardware equipment, good management processes, and well-trained professionals. In fact, enterprise quality system implementation varies greatly, it is best not to implement the "one size fits all", so that the same benchmark price easily lead to lower the cost of quality, the more competitive situation, this probably is the management who wish to see the results.

In addition, because the Government had been spent on health care institutions, hospitals, in addition to the "to" increase revenue yaoyangyi, also by pharmaceutical companies and medical device company assume many of the costs of continuing education for physicians, medical device sales price includes not only the material costs, the operating expenses of the quality system, including after-sales service, professional training, academic support and follow-up services.

If bidding policies emphasizing the lowest price, inevitably lead to the overall service level of the enterprise.

Bidding has become an enterprise must cross the threshold.

At the same time, the results of the tender most uncontrollable. Throughout the tender price is close to business and loss point, if a single centralized procurement tender of lowest price policy, short term medical device industry profits will be significantly compressed, long look at the innovation power of enterprises would also be affected by the great depression. This will give national medical device company development bring long-term negative impacts, and international level, the more the gap will be widening.

Recommended quality standards as the reference price

Some people believe that the quality of imported products will be high, the quality of the products made in China will be low, so a high value, consumable medical has formed two differentiated set of benchmarks and the purchase price, the prices of imported products is generally similar domestic product of 2 ~ 5 times.

For example, a business to international companies OEM support, quality standards and to foreign companies, but the benchmark price but not domestic to 30% of imports. Therefore, how to judge quality merits as well as the relationship between quality and price, is bidding work the urgent need to resolve the problem.

The purpose of the tender is to put the industry's average prices, the benefit to patients.

How to do this? we may wish to review the development of other sectors. Look back on 25 years ago, we also do not have the capacity to independent production television sets, at that time the cheapest 14-inch color TV joint venture to $ 2000, and at that time, China's per capita monthly wage is only 100 million television sets per capita is the price of the monthly salary of nearly 20 times, became a luxury. Later, as a national brand evolve and grow, and today, a television price has dropped to per capita monthly salary of 1/2, but in China, production of color TVs have been exported to all over the world.

In the medical industry, not national brand, imported brands stand price at $ 18000.

After the year 2000, the national brands participate in the competition, the price of imported brands fell by 30%. Tender cannot simply to domestic and imported to scale to the level of the benchmark price, but we should take the quality as the basis for the benchmark price, otherwise national brand will lose the opportunity to import the brand competition, research and development and the possible introduction of high-end products, the patient will also do not enjoy the full benefits of price competition.

Call for expert group should be added to the drug administration departments

In the past of centralized purchasing, often purely clinical medical experts assessment team, most understand the business of drug administration departments did not intervene, this will make the Group an existing limitations.

Clinical experts on medical supplies of regulatory and quality system requirements for a lack of quality of the enterprise, making many cannot determine product quality and price upside down.

In addition, if the tender requirements too general, a lack of rules, operating standards, specific staff discretion, objectively speaking, there is great-seeking space.

For example, some enterprises use expert on medical device regulations in unfamiliar, not tender in accordance with the registration form, which is the name of the specification as a tender. What is more, some enterprises use without statutory recognition products intended use for product classification and cybercriminals. These phenomena are imperfect because of the system, from an objective point of view allows enterprises to face unfair competition environment.

How fair, equitable, transparent and improve centralized purchasing, the health authorities, together with the challenges ahead.

Most of the reform at the State Department, the State food and Drug Administration Commissioner

Governor's authority vested in the Ministry of health, to improve the bidding work should play a positive role.

If you are responsible for the supervision enterprises and products of participation at all levels of the food and drug supervision Bureau into a centralized tendering, will contribute to the development of a uniform evaluation standard of quality, composition more professional, more comprehensive group of experts will help create a more equitable, fair and transparent competition environment.

Centralized purchasing, than the results of the fair is more important is the opportunity fair.