On the evening of December 23, according to the official website of the Sichuan Provincial Medical Security Bureau, the oral implant system (also known as "dental implant") centralized procurement rules "Oral Implant System Inter-Provincial Alliance Centralized Volume Procurement Document" Officially released. Documents show that the dental implant centralized procurement plan will be launched in Chengdu on January 11, 2023.
Previously, the centralized purchasing of dental implants has been clearly carried out in the form of "packaged" purchasing, that is, an oral implant system should include one implant, one prosthetic abutment, and one accessory kit each. Currently, the rules make it clear that this centralized procurement will be grouped according to implant materials, specifically into two categories: Level 4 pure titanium implant product systems and titanium alloy implant product systems.
Compared with pure titanium implants, titanium alloy implants are made by adding other metals to titanium metal. Theoretically, the strength and corrosion resistance are slightly weaker, but this cannot be generalized. Grade 4 pure titanium and titanium alloy implants are also the mainstream materials for domestic implants. Among grade 4 titanium products, well-known products include Denton and Straumann implants.
The documents show that the highest effective declaration price for level four pure titanium implant product systems and titanium alloy implant product systems is unified at 2,380 yuan/set. According to previous statistics from Dongxing Securities Research Report, the ex-factory price of domestic single dental implants is 2,000-5,000 yuan; and based on the cumulative total of implants, crowns, abutments, and restorative materials, the production price of single dental implants is 3,750-9,375 yuan. By comparison, the highest effective declared price of 2,380 yuan/set is quite a discount.
In terms of purchase volume, grade 4 pure titanium implants are the main variety of dental implants purchased this time. Specifically, the first-year purchase demand for level four pure titanium implant product systems is 2,494,956 sets, and the first-year intended purchase volume is 2,253,818 sets. The first-year purchase demand for titanium alloy implant product systems is 375,087 sets, and the first-year intended purchase volume is 339,335 sets.
In other words, the purchasing demand for dental implants in the first year is approximately 2.87 million sets. However, there may be a certain gap between this data and the domestic annual demand for dental implants in recent years. According to Quantuo statistics, the number of domestic dental implants in 2019 was approximately 3.12 million, and in 2020 it was approximately 3.62 million.
If we look at dental implant brands, Aojita, Denton, and Straumann are the top three manufacturers in terms of purchasing demand. The first-year purchasing demand of medical institutions for the fourth-grade pure titanium implants from the above three manufacturers reached 604,455, 497,017, and 311,098, accumulatively accounting for more than 50% of the material group; closely followed by Nobel, its first The annual procurement demand is more than 100,000.
In fact, Aojitai and Denton are already "cost-effective" brands familiar to domestic dental enthusiasts. They are both Korean dental implants. The "imported dental implants" promoted in China in the early years are also partly derived from This; while Straumann and Nobel belong to the European and American brands, they are both Swiss dental implant brands.
Among the domestic brands, Weigao Jielikang (Weihai Weigao Jielikang Biomaterials Co., Ltd.), Baikante (Changzhou Baikante Medical Devices Co., Ltd.), Chuangying (Jiangsu Chuangying Medical Devices Co., Ltd. Company), Baijitai (Baijitai (Xiamen) Medical Technology Co., Ltd.), and Hongzheng Born (Sichuan Hongzheng Born Dental Technology Co., Ltd.) have a larger purchase demand for fourth-level pure titanium implants, and their first The annual procurement requirements are: 51,367, 50,489, 42,935, 21,352, and 20,254.
It can be seen that in this centralized purchase of dental implants, imported products account for a large proportion, especially European and American products, which also reflects the attraction of a larger market for manufacturers. This is also slightly different from the previous dental implant payment reform pilots in Ningbo, Zhejiang and Bengbu, Anhui. Previously, in the aforementioned attempts in the two places, more participants were domestic and Korean products, while European and American brands participated less.
However, for any dental implant manufacturer, since it has many implant categories and large price differences, the impact of centralized procurement on the company's performance needs to be observed. For example, Straumann launched the BLX implant in China this year, which is the company's most high-end product in the Chinese market. It is made of titanium-zirconium alloy material and is designed to withstand greater bite forces with a smaller diameter and shorten healing time. According to quotations on social media, the price of a single product is more than 20,000 yuan.
The centralized procurement of dental implants first began to be brewed in 2021, and subsequently caused violent shocks in the secondary market. It was not until September this year that a clear decision was made, and it was established that it is divided into special management of oral implant medical service charges and A way to carry out two tasks of consumables collection at the same time.
On September 8 this year, the National Medical Insurance Administration issued a document to carry out special management of dental implant medical service charges, clarifying that the price regulation target for single conventional dental implant medical services in tertiary public hospitals is 4,500 yuan. However, the National Medical Insurance Administration also stated that the regulatory targets take into account regional differences and are not a one-size-fits-all single standard.
In addition, an annex to relax the conditions was also released, allowing for a relaxation of 10%-20% under three types of conditions. Moreover, the regulatory targets directly affect public medical institutions, while private medical institutions still set their own prices in accordance with regulations. Nonetheless, if the regulatory target of 4,500 yuan is calculated based on the current maximum effective declaration price of 2,380 yuan, the overall price of dental implant centralized purchasing products in some medical institutions can be controlled within 10,000 yuan, which can be achieved.
Previously, the National Medical Insurance Administration issued a document on December 20 stating that it is necessary to do a good job in medical insurance at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, including steadily promoting the centralized procurement of dental implant consumables. However, regarding the inclusion of dental implants in medical insurance, the National Medical Insurance Administration has made it clear many times that it is temporarily unable to include dental implants in the scope of medical insurance payment.