Fujian Healthcare Security Administration Holds Face-to-face Meeting with Manufacturers to Implement the "Two-invoice Policy" for Medical Consumables! The falling of “two-invoice policy” is almost promised.

In 2019, the two-invoice policy for medical consumables is going to be enforced! Grand actions are being taken in many provinces!
As the first one to promote the two-invoice policy for drugs in the whole province, Fujian, known as the experimental field of medical reform, has attracted much attention in the promotion of the policy. According to the news from Yaoxie website, Fujian Healthcare Security Administration held a symposium recently to hear opinions from circulation enterprises on promoting the two-invoice policy for medical consumables, and stressed again the government's determination to promote the two-invoice policy for high-value medical consumables throughout the province.

It is reported that the following nine topics in the symposium are highlighted to be the distributing enterprises' most concerned about :
As early as December 28, 2018, Fujian Healthcare Security Administration and Fujian Health Commission jointly issued the Notice on Sharing the Results of Transparent Procurement of Medical Devices (Consumables) Across Fujian Province, in which it is mentioned that the high-value medical consumables across the province should be targeted with full implementation of the two-invoice policy, with one-invoice policy recommended. Distribution enterprises failing to implement the "two-invoice policy" shall be blacklisted by Fujian provincial health security system, be directly disqualified to perform network distribution, and refused the payment by the fund of health insurance!

The implementation of two-invoice policy is initiated by the hospitals
Throughout China, many provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have planned and some regions have even begun to pilot or fully implement the two-invoice system for medical consumables, including Hebei, Shaanxi, Fujian, Hainan, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Qinghai, Tianjin, Anhui, Hubei, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan, Shanxi, Jiangsu and Henan.

In regions where the "two-invoice policy" is under implementation, the consumables distribution right has been centralized increasingly, and generally 60-90% of the distributors have been edged out of the game.

Although the policy has not been implemented in a large scale, the influence of the "two-invoice policy" for medical consumables has made a headway into the industry, most typically in the refusal of the IPO listing of Guoke Hengtai Medical Technology Co. Ltd. by the Stock Issuance Examination and Verification Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission because of some reasons. The mentioned enterprise, affiliated to the OSIC Holding Group Co., Ltd., was required by the Stock Issuance Examination and Verification Committee to explain the impacts of the gradual implementation of the "two-invoice policy" for high-value medical consumables on its sales modes, including those on its sales expense ratio and gross profit rate.

In March 2018, the Notification on Strengthening Abolishing the Method of Making up Medicine with Drugs and Continuously Deepening Comprehensive Reform of Public Hospitals (GWTGF [2018] No.4) (hereinafter referred to as "the Notification") was released on the official website of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC). The Notification specifies that the two-invoice policy for purchase and sales of high-value medical consumables shall be implemented step by step.

The policy encourages comprehensive reform on public hospitals, giving birth to 15 nation-level demonstration cities and 30 demonstration counties (districts, municipals and banners).

These cities and counties are distributed across all the provinces in China, and most of them have not yet implemented the "two-invoice policy" on medical consumables. However, they are going to take actions to set examples for the whole country.

Because of the increasingly urgent situation at the beginning of 2019, the implementation of the policy rumored by the industry to be due in 2018 has been somehow delayed. But this year, the swift promotion of the "two-invoice policy" for medical consumables in various places may as well be a certainty!