Dental Implant VBP Contracts Completed at 143%: Follow-up Centralized Procurement for Dental Implants and Orthodontic Brackets Launched

DentalGoodNews｜On September 28, the results release conference for the centralized procurement of Dental Implants and Orthodontic Brackets was held in China Dental Valley, Ziyang, Sichuan, marking the official launch of the follow-up centralized procurement of Dental Implants and orthodontic Medical Consumables under the national alliance. Li Dewei, Party Secretary and Director of the Sichuan Provincial Healthcare Security Administration, stated that the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) has decided that Sichuan will take the lead in conducting the follow-up centralized procurement of the Dental Implant System, and Sichuan will work with allied provinces to advance implementation, completing this round of procurement before the end of the year.

The conference disclosed that after the implementation of Dental Implant centralized procurement, the average cost of a single Dental Implant Treatment dropped from approximately 15,000 yuan to around 7,000 yuan. Over three years, public hospitals nationwide actually procured a cumulative total of 3.47 million sets of Dental Implant Systems, with a contract completion rate of 143%; the volume of Dental Implant surgeries increased from 214,000 cases in 2022 to 892,000 cases in 2025. As of now, Dental Implant centralized procurement covers 18,000 medical institutions nationwide.

Regarding Orthodontics, Wang Xiaoning, Director of the Department of Pharmaceutical Price and Tendering and Procurement of the National Healthcare Security Administration, disclosed that the actual procurement completion rate of Orthodontic Brackets in 16 allied provinces reached 118%, fully fulfilling the volume commitment.

The scope of participation in this round of follow-up centralized procurement has expanded significantly. The total number of applying enterprises increased from 53 to 101, a growth of 91%; Medical Device Registration holders increased from 59 to 111, a growth of 88%; Medical Device Registration Certificates increased from 269 to 660, a growth of 145%; product components increased from 391 to 1,008, a growth of 158%.

Li Dewei introduced that this round will adhere to the requirements of "stabilizing clinical practice, ensuring quality, preventing bid rigging, and countering involution," further improving centralized procurement rules, with a focus on four optimizations:

First, optimizing procurement varieties by encouraging innovation and adapting to clinical needs, with plans to include consensus-based new-material Dental Implants in the procurement scope (the conference feature video mentioned plans to include titanium-zirconium alloy and other Dental Implant products with relatively mature clinical use in recent years, as well as multi-tooth Dental Implant Consumables); second, optimizing bidding strategies by changing the original bidding model to a public inquiry model, guiding enterprises to quote reasonable prices through multi-dimensional price comparison; third, optimizing volume allocation rules by adhering to gradient volume allocation and volume-driven price reduction, allowing high-quality and affordable products to obtain more agreed procurement volumes; fourth, optimizing supporting services by adhering to unified services on the same platform, providing online volume reporting and allocation services for both Dental Implant Systems and orthodontic Medical Consumables through the Sichuan procurement platform.

Regarding quality supervision, Li Hua, Party Member and Deputy Director of the Sichuan Provincial Medical Products Administration, stated that the Sichuan Provincial Medical Products Administration has included Custom Abutments for dental implants, orthodontic materials, and other selected products from centralized procurement in the provincial key Medical Device supervision catalog, achieving two 100% full coverages annually in supervisory inspections of selected enterprises and supervisory sampling of selected products, ensuring that selected products have traceable sources, traceable destinations, and accountable responsibilities.

Wang Xiaoning stated that the first-round agreement period for Dental Implant and Orthodontic Bracket centralized procurement has expired, and follow-up centralized procurement has become a key measure to consolidate centralized procurement results and ensure long-term benefits for the people. This round of follow-up centralized procurement will add member units to the joint procurement office, inviting capable and confident dental specialty institutions to participate in the formulation of procurement rules, implementation, and effectiveness monitoring and evaluation. He also proposed that Consumables enterprises should uphold the bottom line of quality and safety, strictly fulfill contracts and ensure supply, eliminate malicious low-price bidding, involution, bid rigging, and collusive bidding, and jointly maintain a fair and orderly market environment.

At the conference, Sichuan University West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan Stomatological Hospital, Taikang Dental Group, and Shanghai Meiwei Dental Medical Management Group Co., Ltd. delivered statements as representatives of medical institutions.

After the conference, Sichuan will organize all medical institutions providing Oral Implant Services to report their procurement volumes. According to a previous report by DGN, the National Healthcare Security Administration issued an announcement on September 23, deciding to openly solicit dental specialty medical institutions from society to join the National Alliance Procurement Office on the basis of provincial healthcare security departments, to jointly participate in the formulation of centralized procurement rules and effectiveness evaluation. Institutions interested in joining must submit application forms before September 30.