The National Medical Insurance Administration recently announced the eleventh batch of the national organization drug centralized procurement plan, introducing multiple innovative measures to ensure the fairness and sustainability of the centralized procurement work.

The core concept of this plan can be summarized as "stabilize clinical, ensure quality, prevent surrounding bidding, and counter involution." Among them, the optimization of the "counter involution" mechanism is particularly noteworthy. To avoid malicious price competition, the new rules adjust the benchmark for price difference control. When the lowest bid is less than 50% of the average qualifying price, half of the average qualifying price will be used as the new benchmark for price difference control, rather than simply adopting the lowest bid.

According to experts from the Medical Insurance Bureau, this adjustment will significantly raise the price benchmark for about a quarter of the varieties, with an average increase of 34%, and a maximum of 170%. This measure is expected to effectively curb some companies' behavior of disrupting market order through extremely low bids, creating a fairer and healthier competitive environment for the industry.

At the same time, the new plan strengthens the enforcement of the selected results. The selected enterprises are clearly positioned as the primary responsible party for supply assurance, needing to respond promptly and fulfill the order delivery for medical institutions. Medical institutions are required to prioritize the procurement of selected products and complete the agreed procurement volume, while also settling payments in a timely manner.

The introduction of these measures reflects the thoughtful consideration of the Medical Insurance Bureau in balancing the interests of all parties and promoting the long-term development of the pharmaceutical industry. By optimizing the centralized procurement mechanism, it ensures that patients can access high-quality and affordable medicines, while also creating a fairer and more sustainable competitive environment for pharmaceutical companies, which is expected to drive the entire pharmaceutical industry towards higher quality and more orderly development.