With the deepening of the degree of social aging, the health problems of the elderly have gradually emerged. Some diseases commonly found in the middle-aged and elderly population, such as cardiovascular diseases and bone and joint problems, seriously affect the quality of life of the elderly. The problem that the elderly are expensive to see a doctor and difficult to treat has always existed.
In order to gradually solve this problem, the second batch of high-value medical consumable artificial joint collection policies organized by the mainland after the collection of cardiac coronary stents have been implemented in various provinces recently. In September last year, the mainland announced the results of the second batch of national high-value medical consumables collection, of which the price of artificial hip joints will drop from 35,000 to about 7,000; the knee joint will drop from 32,000 to about 5,000, and the price reduction will reach 82%.
The decline is so big, where has the money gone?
It is reported that the implementation of this policy will greatly reduce the treatment costs of joint replacement patients and reduce the burden on patients' families. But at the same time, some netizens expressed their doubts, why is the reduction so huge? If it can be reduced to such a low, why was it so expensive before? Will this price reduction cause quality problems in the artificial joints in the future?
Taking a top-three hospital in Beijing as an example, in the implementation of the policy, the cost of a joint replacement operation is about 40,000 to 90,000, of which the cost of examination is between 20,000 and 25,000, and the price of artificial joint prosthesis ranges from 20,000 to 70,000. In fact, compared with other surgeries such as spinal surgery, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, artificial joint replacement surgery is really not expensive.
However, the difference is that the reimbursement rate of artificial joint replacement surgery is particularly low, and the reimbursement amount for artificial joint replacement surgery in most cities is fixed, usually 8000-9000 yuan. Therefore, after doing an artificial joint replacement surgery and timely reimbursement, the patient still has to bear tens of thousands of yuan.
According to the explanation given by the leader of the joint procurement office, the cost of artificial joint consumables is not high, but from the production to clinical application of artificial joints, there are too many circulation links, and the middlemen deduct layer by layer, and finally to the patient's surgery, there is a situation where the price is greatly inflated. The cost of on-board orthopedic consumables and disinfection, power tools, etc. are paid by consumers, and the cost will inevitably increase greatly.
Why the demand for artificial joints is increasing
At present, the number of artificial joint replacements is increasing at an average annual rate of 20% on the mainland. Last year, there were about 900,000 artificial joint replacement surgeries nationwide. With the aging of the population and the improvement of medical security, a large number of patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral head, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis need to replace artificial joints.
As we age, our bodily functions gradually deteriorate. Among them, bone and joint problems caused by joint degeneration have the greatest impact on the elderly population. The older you get, the more severe the loss of ammonia sugar in your joint tissue. Ammonia sugar, which is the core component such as ammonia sugar strong bone ning, begins to lose at an accelerated rate, which will lead to a serious lack of nutrients in the joints and gradual loss of elasticity, which will cause bone and joint problems. According to a survey by the Mainland Bone and Joint Research Association, the incidence of bone and joint diseases in people over 40 years old in mainland China has reached a staggering 46.3%.
Among them, the prevalence rate in men has reached more than 40%, and the prevalence rate for women is as high as 47%. And the elderly over 60 years old suffer from osteoarthritis, and the disability rate is as high as 50%. With the popularization of joint health awareness, joint maintenance products such as Liteviken ammonia sugar are favored by more and more people in Tmall and Shandong.
However, ammonia saccharide products only have a good repair function in the initial stage of joint injury and joint maintenance in normal times. However, when many people are young, they do not pay attention to the maintenance of joints, resulting in more and more serious joint problems after aging, and finally have reached the level of inability to reverse, and finally can only perform artificial joint replacement surgery. Therefore, the daily joint maintenance must be early.
After a significant price reduction, can the quality still be guaranteed?
This is a problem worth pondering, such a large price reduction, will inevitably have a certain impact on production enterprises. Although there will be intervention from the relevant departments. But this can not be used as a product endorsement for some bad companies. Therefore, strengthening supervision in this regard and improving relevant policies may be a better approach.
In addition, strengthening the awareness of joint health maintenance and avoiding the emergence of joint diseases is our most correct approach. Usually in addition to avoiding stronger sports injuries and external trauma, you can also supplement and strengthen the joint cartilage tissue through exogenous supplements, we often have repair components for joint cartilage such as Liteviken amino sugar, sulfur chondroitin and so on.
However, it is important not to use these substances to play a repairing role only in the early stages of joint cartilage injury. Therefore, for the maintenance of joints, we must be early, do not wait until it is really irreversible, and then act!