Meeting with National Healthcare Security Administration on Cooperation in 2021

2020-12-14 | Beijing, Shanghai

On 14th December, representatives of the European Chamber's Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Equipment working groups were invited to attend a meeting organized by the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) to discuss the cooperation in 2021. The meeting was chaired by the NHSA General Office Director Shi Guoben. Other participants included representatives from the European embassies and foreign industry associations.

During the meeting, Ms Li Ye, National Chair of the Chamber's Pharmaceutical working group, spoke highly of the NHSA's continuous efforts in improving the healthcare services and providing affordable medicines for Chinese patients since the establishment of the NHSA in 2018. She also talked the impact of healthcare reform policies such as volume-based procurement, the adjustment of National Drug Reimbursement List, and Diagnosis Related Groups, on foreign pharmaceutical companies.

Ms Jessica Yuan supplemented with comments and suggestions on behalf of the medical device sector: the Chamber's Healthcare Equipment working group would be happy to support the exchange with the NHSA, through activities for instance, seminar, visit (or virtual meeting), study, etc. European countries like Germany and France have good practices in terms of value-based healthcare. Upon the NHSA's needs, the Chamber could facilitate exchanging. Two recommendations were also raised: a) the volume-based procurement of coronary stents cut the price by 93%. It is our common goal to find a balance between cost control and industrial innovation and development. b) the use of UDI for medical devices in China should align with the coding system of the NHSA.

At the end of the meeting, the Chamber representatives submitted a list of cooperation proposals in detail to the NHSA official.