Reducing the burden on patients: Representatives suggest classified management and control of high-value disposable medical consumables

Disposable high-value medical consumables refer to medical devices that directly act on the human body, have strict safety requirements, are used extensively in clinical settings, are single-use, and are of high value.

"Although new technologies have promoted the advancement of medical methods, many disposable high-value medical consumables are overpriced, leading to a rapid increase in medical expenses, and the problem of 'expensive medical treatment' is once again confronting the public." How to effectively reduce the medical burden on the people and prevent the waste of medical resources has become a concern for Liu Xiuyun, a deputy principal of Suzhou No.1 High School in Anhui Province and a representative of the National People's Congress. During this year's National Two Sessions, she submitted a proposal titled 'Suggestions on Scientific Demonstration and Classified Management of Disposable High-Value Medical Consumables."

"The widespread clinical use of disposable high-value medical consumables has increased surgical costs, and the 'cost per procedure' and 'consumable proportion' in many hospital clinical departments have begun to seriously exceed standards." In reality, many medical institutions find themselves in a dilemma. Liu Xiuyun told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that the revised Medical Device Supervision and Administration Regulations announced by the State Council in 2017 clearly stipulate: "Medical institutions must not reuse disposable medical devices."

"To comply with national regulations, some departments in medical institutions have been forced to cancel the use of new technologies and methods." Patients in need can only seek treatment at large hospitals in first-tier cities. In Liu Xiuyun's view, this forced shifting of contradictions invisibly increases patients' medical costs.

She believes that the clear emphasis by multiple national departments that medical institutions must not reuse disposable medical devices is to prevent some medical institutions from blindly reusing them solely for profit, ignoring infection risks and material damage, which could cause medical harm to patients. However, drawing on foreign experience and after years of research and clinical verification by experts in China's healthcare industry, it has been found that under scientific demonstration and reasonable classification, many disposable medical consumables can be reused multiple times after strict disinfection, sterilization, and scientific processing.

"If a simple 'one-size-fits-all' approach is taken to ban the reuse of all disposable high-value consumables, it will lead to a sharp increase in treatment costs and impose a heavy financial burden on patients." In Liu Xiuyun's view, the current policy not only fails to resolve the problems of 'difficulty in seeing a doctor' and 'expensive medical treatment' but also causes serious waste of health resources and is not conducive to the current green development and environmental protection concepts.

Accordingly, she suggests that the National Health Commission, together with relevant technical departments, establish a special working group to annually conduct reasonable identification of the catalog of disposable medical devices currently in use in medical institutions and handle them accordingly based on the situation.

For medical devices currently used in various medical institutions that can be safely and effectively reused, as well as some medical devices that can be safely and effectively reused after technical improvements, the catalog of disposable medical devices should be adjusted, and production qualifications, sales licenses, and other approvals should be granted in a timely manner.

For some non-implantable disposable high-value medical consumables, if new medical device products cannot currently be provided as substitutes, unified rules for "reprocessing" and "resterilization" should be formulated after scientific demonstration. Under the premise of ensuring good consumable performance and no infection risk, medical institutions or manufacturers should carry out reuse processing according to the same standards to reduce costs and avoid waste.

For some disposable high-value medical consumables that cannot be improved or converted into conventional medical devices, due to their complex materials or numerous electronic components, thorough cleaning and disinfection are difficult, and repeated disinfection easily causes material damage, posing surgical safety risks to patients. Liu Xiuyun calls for centralized large-scale procurement and open competition at the national level for this part of disposable high-value medical consumables to drive down prices, reduce patients' medical costs, and bring real benefits to patients.