The Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau has released a notification indicating that six hospitals in the city are set to carry out a special tender that links diagnosis-related group (DRG) reforms with volume-based procurement (VBP) for medical consumables in the sports medicine, neurointervention, and electrophysiology fields. The participating hospitals include Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Fu Wai Hospital, Peking University Third Hospital, and Xuan Wu Hospital. The initiative aims to leverage the guiding role of the China Healthcare Security Diagnosis Related Groups (CHS-DRG) payment reforms alongside VBP tendering for medical consumables by medical institutions.
Details of the DRG-VBP Linked Group Tender
The tender will involve 14 groups covering 49 products, with “intracranial covered stent” being the only product that will see price negotiations not linked to procurement volumes. Medical institutions are required to select products from enterprises willing to participate in the DRG-VBP joint tender based on clinical usage status and medical technology progress, and report the procurement demand for each product for the next year, with the total volume reported not being less than 90% of the actual procurement volume in 2021.
Highest Effective Quotation and Manufacturer Quotation
The highest effective quotation refers to the median of the historical purchase prices of all products in the same negotiation group, based on the weighted average purchase prices of products in various medical institutions in Beijing in 2021. All products maintained by the filing manufacturers should participate in the quotation. Only one declared quotation is allowed for all specifications and models of products included in the same registration certificate within the same negotiation group. The declared quotation is the actual supply price of the product, which should include all expenses such as taxes, delivery fees, and accompanying service fees.
Reduction and Allocation Mechanism
The negotiation reduction is divided into two levels: entry-level reduction and up-to-standard reduction. If the quotation reduction reaches the entry-level reduction but is less than the up-to-standard reduction, 60% of the procurement volume will be obtained. If the quotation reduction reaches the up-to-standard reduction or above, 90% of the procurement volume will be obtained. 90% of the demand for products that have failed negotiations and 30% of the demand for products that have not met the up-to-standard reduction rate will be allocated as the volume for secondary allocation by the purchasing entity.
Procurement Cycle and Payment Rules
The procurement cycle is one year, calculated from the actual execution date of the winning bid implementation. If similar products are included in the national VBP rounds during the procurement cycle, the national VBP results prevail. Payment rules for the main DRG disease groups involved in the DRG-VBP linked tender will be implemented throughout the city, and the payment standards for disease groups will not be reduced due to product price reductions in the first year. Different DRG balance ratio reward policies will be adopted to share any savings incurred across participating medical institutions. Starting from the following year, the adjustment of payment standards will be initiated based on actual operating conditions.-Fineline Info & Tech
