According to the new policy of centralized purchasing of coronary stents promoted by National Healthcare Security Administration at the end of 2020, the centralized purchased coronary stents were officially applied in Department of Interventional Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU) on January 15, 2021.

At 8: 00 a.m. on January 15, Professor Hu Zhi and Attending Physician Song Qiang from Department of Structural Heart Diseases performed the first PCI operation using the centralized purchased coronary stent. This patient was the first beneficiary since the implementation of the new policy in our hospital. After the surgery, Professor Hu Zhi happily told the family members that the operation is a huge success, and the surgical cost was reduced by more than 40,000 yuan due to the new centralized purchasing policy. The patient and relatives repeatedly expressed appreciation, which not only showed the grateful attitude to the doctors for saving life, but also expressed their satisfaction with the centralized purchasing policy. The new healthcare insurance policy implemented by the state will comprehensively reduce the overall cost for patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery, significantly alleviate their burden of medical expenses, decrease the expenditure of healthcare insurance fund and bring concrete benefits to patients and the people's livelihood. The price of centralized purchased coronary stent significantly declined from approximately 13,000 yuan to 700 yuan. However, patients and their families may be primarily concerned about whether the quality can be guaranteed if the price is dramatically reduced. Chen Jinfu, Deputy Director of National Healthcare Security Administration highlighted that all of us are concerned about whether the manufacturer will produce defective product with the limited price. In this respect, we have established a complete system. First, the manufacturer is the first responsible person of product quality. Second, the requirement of the product bidding and purchasing process is highly demanding and guaranteed. Third, the manufacturers should have quality commitment during the process of product bidding and purchasing. Fourth, the government will impose quality supervision. Most importantly, I think the manufacturers will take quality as the life line in terms of quality development and brand maintenance. These strict measures not only resolve the patients' concerns, but also make patients and their families satisfied.

On January 15, Professor Bai Xiaojun and Professor Zhu Danjun from Department of Cardiovascular Medicine utilized the centralized purchased coronary stents in patients. With the continuous promotion of the new policy, the centralized purchased coronary stents will serve and benefit more patients undergoing interventional surgery.