National Healthcare Security Administration: Further clarify relevant reform measures to cut off the profit chain between medical services and pharmaceuticals.

Wang Xiaoning, Director of the Department of Pharmaceutical Pricing and Tender Procurement of the National Healthcare Security Administration, introduced that cutting off the interest chain between medical treatment and pharmaceuticals has always been an important task in the reform of the pharmaceutical field. In recent years, various departments have conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and have taken a series of measures to address the issue of the intertwined interests of medical treatment and pharmaceuticals, such as implementing the zero markup policy for drugs in public medical institutions, which has achieved good results. The National Health Commission has also deployed this as a key focus of its work for many consecutive years. The National Healthcare Security Administration continues to promote centralized procurement of pharmaceuticals in large quantities, and an important point is to expand the channels for enterprises to supply medical institutions directly through "integrated procurement, quantity-price linkage", to compress the space for drugs and consumables to enter hospitals through kickbacks, reduce the cost of drug circulation, and promote the formation of a clean and upright industry ecology. The "Opinions" further clarify relevant reform measures, in addition to "deepening the standardization and institutionalization of centralized procurement of pharmaceuticals in large quantities", it also proposes to "implement a zero markup policy for traditional Chinese medicine prescription granules", which further specifies the scope of implementation of the zero markup policy for drugs. Apart from traditional Chinese herbal pieces, all other drugs provided to patients in public medical institutions must not be marked up, which effectively consolidates the implementation results of zero markup for drugs, eliminates using drugs to compensate for medical expenses, and guides drug prices to return to a reasonable level. At the same time, the "Opinions" propose to "improve the price policy for pharmaceutical-related medical services". The National Healthcare Security Administration has issued the "Guidelines for the Establishment of Pharmaceutical-related Medical Service Price Projects", guiding the establishment of 10 price items such as "pharmaceutical outpatient consultation fee", "pharmaceutical inpatient consultation fee", and "traditional Chinese medicine prescription granule dispensing fee" in various places, which will better reflect the technical value and labor input of pharmaceutical personnel. After implementing the zero markup policy for traditional Chinese medicine prescription granules, medical institutions can charge a "traditional Chinese medicine prescription granule dispensing fee" in accordance with regulations. Furthermore, the "Opinions" also propose to promote medical institutions to timely register actual purchase prices on provincial-level pharmaceutical procurement platforms, study effective ways to link online and negotiated prices reasonably, and clarify that selected drugs in centralized procurement and drugs negotiated within the agreement period shall not be subject to further negotiation. This will help to stimulate the enthusiasm of medical institutions and medical staff to participate in the formation of drug prices and actively control costs, and also help stabilize market expectations. Overall, the issue of cutting off the interest chain between medical treatment and pharmaceuticals is a systematic issue, and requires all parties to further collaborate, implement comprehensive measures, and form a united front.