The Zhejjiang Healthcare Security Administration recently published guidelines on the centralized procurement of and payment criteria for drugs in the public health insurance catalog.

The guidelines elucidate the entry and exit system for drugs included on the provincial medicine procurement platform, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical market.

In addition, the guidelines encourage privately-owned medical institutions and medical insurance-designated pharmacies, as well as public institutions, to make purchases on the provincial procurement platform.

The guidelines also stipulate that the same payment criteria for medicine that are covered by public health insurance apply to both public and private institutions designated by medical insurance.

The guidelines are set to take effect on September 1 and will apply to all public medical institutions and medical insurance-designated private institutions and pharmacies.