On January 11, the bidding for concentrated bulk procurement of oral implant systems was opened in Sichuan, resulting in the result of being selected. Under the guidance and coordination of the National Medical Insurance Bureau, the Sichuan Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau took the lead in forming an inter-provincial procurement alliance for oral implant systems, with all provinces across the country actively participating. The average winning price of the products to be selected dropped to more than 900 yuan, an average decrease of 55% compared with the median purchase price before centralized procurement. This centralized procurement gathers the demand from nearly 18,000 medical institutions across the country, reaching 2.87 million implant systems, accounting for approximately 72% of the domestic annual number of dental implants (4 million), and is expected to save approximately 4 billion yuan in patient costs each year.
There are 55 companies participating in this centralized procurement, of which 39 are expected to be selected, with a winning rate of 71%. The selected companies include some well-known international companies, as well as domestic companies such as Weihai Weigao and Changzhou Baikante. Before the centralized procurement, the Straumann, Dentsply, and Nobel implant systems, which had higher prices, dropped from the original purchasing median price of 5,000 yuan to about 1,850 yuan. The Orbita and Denton implant systems with the largest market demand dropped from the original median purchase price of 5,000 yuan to about 1,850 yuan. The median procurement price dropped from about 1,500 yuan to about 770 yuan. The selected products are rich and well matched with clinical needs; two types of implants, grade four pure titanium and titanium alloy, are included, which have better performance and higher clinical recognition. It also covers other consumable parts of oral implants and can meet most clinical needs. 14,000 private medical institutions actively participated in this centralized purchase, accounting for 80% of the total number of medical institutions. The extensive participation of private medical institutions will greatly facilitate the public to enjoy affordable dental implant services.
In the next step, the medical insurance department will make preparations for the implementation of the centralized purchasing results. In the near future, it will also launch a bidding network for the dental crown consumables used in the dental implant process, and simultaneously implement the oral implant medical treatment. The whole-process regulation of service prices has resulted in a simultaneous decrease in the three main cost components of dental implant services. Through the coordinated efforts of multiple measures, it is expected that the results of the comprehensive management of dental implant costs will be implemented from late March to mid-April 2023, and patients will fully enjoy the reduced-price dental implant services.