Beijing Overhauls Medical Service Pricing: 6,823 Items Abolished — What Does It Mean for the Medical Device Market?

On November 6, 2026, the Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau and the Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau issued a notice on adjusting and standardizing medical service pricing items across 17 categories of general treatment and related services.

The policy standardizes 1,331 main medical service pricing items and their corresponding surcharge and extension items, while simultaneously abolishing 6,823 existing pricing items and adjusting parts of the separately chargeable medical consumables catalog.

The new rules will take effect on December 19, 2026.

The adjustment covers 17 categories of medical service pricing guidelines, including general treatment, as well as internet consultation items under comprehensive diagnosis services. It affects a wide range of clinical services, including blood collection, injections, rehabilitation and ophthalmic examinations.

For the medical device industry, one of the most directly relevant changes is Beijing’s simultaneous adjustment of the catalog of separately chargeable surgical consumables.

The policy adjusts 31 separately chargeable surgical consumables, including “atomizing tubes,” together with one related usage note. It also abolishes 34 existing separately chargeable surgical consumables, including drainage tubes, along with one usage note. The policy further clarifies separate charging and medical insurance reimbursement rules for certain single-use consumables.

This is another large-scale medical service pricing reform in Beijing in 2026.

In January, Beijing announced standardized pricing for 446 medical service items across 11 categories, including comprehensive diagnosis, ultrasound examinations, radiotherapy, anesthesia, gynecology and dentistry, while abolishing 3,264 existing items. The corresponding pricing policies took effect on July 11.

Across the two rounds, more than 10,000 old pricing items have been affected.

However, a sharp reduction in the number of old pricing items does not mean that an equivalent number of medical services have been eliminated, nor does it necessarily mean that overall hospital charges will fall.

Medical services are being reclassified, renamed and repriced under a more standardized national framework.

6,823 Old Pricing Items Abolished: What Changes for Hospital Charging?

Medical service prices in China have historically been managed locally.

Different regions have used substantially different names, service definitions and billing units. Some items were charged according to individual procedural steps, while others were differentiated by equipment or technical method. Similar medical services could therefore be billed under different rules depending on the region.

The National Healthcare Security Administration is now promoting a pricing system based more directly on the medical service output, integrating items with similar functions and similar price levels.

For example, under Beijing’s latest adjustment, the old item “venous blood collection” has been replaced by “blood collection fee — venous.”

The new item defines one blood collection service as including blood collection, needle withdrawal, compression, sample preservation and delivery for testing. The maximum guidance price remains RMB 6 per service.

For intravenous infusion, the old “intravenous infusion” item has been replaced by “injection fee — intravenous infusion.”

The maximum guidance price rises from RMB 7 to RMB 8 per service. The new item includes solution preparation, infusion and observation of patient response. When medication is added through the infusion line or container during the infusion, another injection fee may not be charged separately.

Note: This comparison covers corresponding main-item prices only and does not include permitted surcharges or separately chargeable consumables.

The government guidance prices announced by Beijing are maximum charge levels. Medical institutions may not charge above them but may charge less.

For items subject to market-adjusted pricing, eligible medical institutions may set prices in accordance with applicable rules.

Under the new pricing framework, each item generally specifies the service output, price composition, surcharges, extension items, billing unit and billing instructions.

A surcharge reflects differences in workload, technical difficulty or risk under different clinical conditions.

An extension item expands the applicable scope of a main service item without changing the principal service output and therefore does not independently increase the price.

This change will affect how hospitals charge for new technologies.

Even when the same medical service is delivered using different equipment or technical approaches, a new pricing item may not necessarily be created.

Whether additional charges are permitted depends primarily on whether the applicable pricing item and surcharge rules allow them.

For medical device companies, having a new product or new technology does not automatically mean that a hospital can create an additional technical service charge.

Companies need to understand what clinical service their product actually delivers, which medical service pricing item it corresponds to, and whether that item already incorporates the cost of equipment use or related consumables.

Which Medical Consumables Can Be Charged Separately?

Another change relevant to medical device companies is the relationship between medical service prices and consumable charging.

Beijing’s policy includes five attachments covering medical service pricing items, certain separately chargeable single-use medical consumables and reimbursement policies, adjustments to separately chargeable surgical consumables, abolished medical service items, and abolished separately chargeable surgical consumables.

Medical service charges generally incorporate costs including medical staff labor, equipment use and basic consumables.

Basic consumables are products routinely required to provide the service, with relatively stable consumption and cost, and are therefore generally considered unsuitable for separate billing.

For example, cotton swabs and ordinary gauze used during blood collection or injection are generally incorporated into the medical service price and are not charged separately to patients.

Products such as blood collection tubes, when included in a separately chargeable consumables list, may be billed separately according to local policy.

Therefore, having a medical device registration certificate, already being used in a hospital, or having obtained procurement-platform listing status does not automatically mean that a hospital may charge the patient separately for that consumable.

Companies still need to determine the consumable category, corresponding medical service item, applicable separately chargeable consumables catalog and specific billing instructions.

For some consumables whose sales have historically depended on hospitals being able to bill them separately, changes in the charging catalog and pricing boundaries could directly affect clinical use costs.

If a consumable could previously be charged separately but is subsequently incorporated into the basic consumables cost of a medical service item, the hospital must absorb that cost within the existing service charge.

This may change how hospitals evaluate product cost, usage volume and procurement prices.

Conversely, if a consumable is explicitly included within the separately chargeable scope and meets the corresponding payment requirements, hospitals may manage its procurement and use costs differently.

The 31 adjusted items and 34 abolished items in Beijing relate to specific consumables catalogs. The difference between these numbers cannot be interpreted simply as the number of products entering or leaving the market.

Nor does the word “abolished” mean that the corresponding products can no longer be used clinically.

Whether a product can be charged separately, whether it is eligible for medical insurance reimbursement, and whether it may continue to be used clinically are three different questions governed respectively by medical service pricing policies, insurance payment rules and medical device regulations.

How Will Changes in Charging Standards Affect the Medical Device Market?

Medical service pricing is an important economic condition affecting how hospitals use medical equipment and consumables.

When purchasing a piece of equipment, hospitals consider not only clinical value, acquisition cost, maintenance expenses and expected utilization, but also whether the corresponding examination, treatment or procedure has an applicable pricing item and whether the resulting revenue can cover depreciation, staffing and routine operating costs.

For large medical equipment, rehabilitation equipment and other technologies whose economics depend on hospitals providing chargeable services, the name, scope and billing method of medical service pricing items may influence hospital business-case calculations.

Beijing’s 1,331 standardized pricing items should not be interpreted directly as adjustments to the purchase prices of large medical equipment.

The purchase price of CT, MRI, surgical robots and other systems and the fees hospitals charge for related medical services belong to different management processes.

The specific impact on a device depends on whether its corresponding medical service is covered by this round of adjustments and whether the billing rules for that service have changed.

Under the new system, medical institutions may also pay greater attention to the actual clinical service output generated by technology.

National pricing guidelines generally avoid tying pricing-item names to a specific device, consumable or technical pathway.

Diagnostic and treatment activities producing the same service output generally use a common pricing item, with necessary surcharges reflecting differences in technical difficulty or workload.

For a new device that mainly improves operating efficiency, accuracy or user experience but does not generate an independently billable medical service, the manufacturer may therefore need to demonstrate its value through clinical outcomes, workflow efficiency, total cost and other economic evidence.

Medical service pricing also affects how consumable companies compete.

For separately billable consumables, hospitals need to consider procurement prices, charging policies and the financial burden on patients.

For basic consumables already included within medical service pricing, procurement cost has a more direct impact on the hospital’s cost of delivering the service.

Beijing has also specified basic medical insurance and work-injury insurance reimbursement classifications for the 1,331 medical service pricing items and related chargeable consumables.

For Class A medical insurance items, insured patients generally have no upfront self-payment requirement.

For Class B items, patients generally pay 8% upfront, unless a special rule specifies otherwise.

Class C items and the consumables used with them are not covered by basic medical insurance or work-injury insurance.

Medical consumables used with Class A and Class B items are included within the reimbursement scope when they meet the relevant requirements, subject to any specific annotations.

However, inclusion within the reimbursement scope does not mean the insurance system pays the entire cost. Actual benefits remain subject to deductibles, reimbursement ratios, payment limits and other rules.

For a new medical device, therefore, three separate questions need to be resolved: Can the hospital charge for its use? Can the consumable be billed separately? Can the patient receive medical insurance reimbursement?

Beijing’s Reform as a Reference Point: Medical Service Pricing Across China Is Moving Toward Unified Rules

Beijing’s latest adjustment is part of China’s nationwide effort to standardize medical service pricing items.

In September 2026, the National Healthcare Security Administration announced that it had completed 40 batches of medical service pricing-item guidelines, standardizing local items into 2,624 main items, 742 surcharges and 174 extension items.

Before the reform, the number of medical service pricing items actually used by different provinces ranged from just over 4,000 to more than 20,000.

The same medical service could have different names, billing units or definitions between regions, complicating hospital charging, medical insurance payment and interregional comparison.

Under the national guidelines, local governments are gradually reorganizing their pricing systems according to a more unified structure.

However, specific prices continue to be set locally under the relevant administrative authority.

The gradual standardization of medical service pricing items nationwide therefore does not mean that all regions will charge the same prices.

Beijing has a high concentration of medical resources and active adoption of new medical technologies, making its implementation of the reform a useful reference point.

Hunan, Shandong, Yunnan and other regions have also been advancing medical service pricing standardization, with implementation dates, local prices and reimbursement policies determined by each jurisdiction.

For medical device companies operating nationwide, greater standardization of local pricing items may reduce some of the historical inconsistencies in service names and billing rules between regions.

However, companies will still need to understand local prices, surcharge conditions, separately chargeable consumables catalogs and medical insurance payment rules in each market.

The National Healthcare Security Administration is also using pricing guidelines to promote greater standardization of medical data.

In areas such as radiology, pathology and assisted procedures, some pricing items require medical institutions to upload examination results or equipment operation records as specified, with reduced payments potentially applying when requirements are not met.

Such rules may increase hospitals’ attention to device data interfaces, information-system compatibility and data-upload capabilities.

Whether the specific Beijing items covered by this reform apply similar reduced-payment mechanisms should be determined according to the local billing instructions.

As medical service pricing items become increasingly standardized across China, medical device companies will need to incorporate charging policies into product launch, hospital access and market development strategies.

Beyond regulatory registration, hospital procurement and consumables platform listing, companies also need to understand the medical service pricing items associated with their products, the cost components included within those items, consumable billing rules and medical insurance payment conditions.

November 11, 2026