National Healthcare Security Administration: Approval of the unified pricing for "remote surgery" and other ancillary procedures.

The National Healthcare Security Administration issued the "Guidelines for the establishment of medical service price projects for surgical and therapeutic auxiliary operations" on the 20th, focusing on the unified pricing of medical technology innovations such as 3D printing, robotic arms, and remote surgery, guiding the transformation from "traditional treatment" to "precision medicine". The guidelines set up three price items for navigation, participation in execution, and precision execution. Surgical robots with higher participation, more comprehensive functions, and more precise execution can receive higher fees, guiding medical institutions to proactively prioritize the use of surgical robots in complex surgeries to prevent abuse. To alleviate the burden on patients, the guidelines clearly include the necessary specialized consumables for the use of robotic arms in the pricing structure. The guidelines separately establish a "remote surgery assistance fee", where medical institutions can remotely control surgical instruments through a platform, participate in key steps or complete the entire surgery for a regulated fee, with pricing standards linked to the main surgery, and specific fee standards reasonably determined by local medical insurance departments. The guidelines standardize the charging policies for reusable consumables and disposable consumables such as electric knives, ultrasonic knives, and radiofrequency knives. To ensure the quality control and traceability of robotic surgery and remote surgery, the guidelines include the "storage and upload of medical data and equipment operation records" in the pricing structure. When conducting auxiliary operations such as 3D reconstruction, surgical path navigation, and remote surgery, medical institutions should save and upload medical data and equipment operation records. Those who do not provide data storage and upload services will be subjected to reduced fees.