China will include artificial cochlear implants in its centralized procurement to ease the burden on both the medical insurance fund and patients, the National Healthcare Security Administration announced recently.
China's cochlear implant rate remains low, with only around 50,000 implants performed annually.
High treatment costs mean that, even cochlear implant is covered by medical insurance in some places, patients often bear a significant portion of the expense.
Yan Qinghui, deputy director of the administration, said they will include expensive medical supplies including artificial cochlea in its centralized procurement going forward.
"Next, the medical insurance department will press on with expanding the scope of and improving the quality of the national centralized procurement of medicines. We will continue to extend its coverage and carry out a new round of national centralized procurement of medicines and high-value medical consumables. We will include artificial cochlea and other high-value medical consumables in the centralized procurement," he said.
Since 2018, China's national bulk procurement of medicines has reduced drug prices by over 50 percent on average through a volume-based group purchasing strategy.
The high cost of cochlear implant has been a major barrier to its insurance coverage, but if bulk procurement leads to significant price reductions, more regions will likely cover it in medical insurance.
This will bring tangible benefits of lower prices and insurance coverage to hearing-impaired patients, especially children under the age of three, a crucial period for auditory development.
Early treatment through affordable implants could significantly improve the outcomes in hearing and speech trainings for these children.
China to include cochlear implants in centralized procurement to ease patient burden
