National Healthcare Security Administration: Brain-computer interface technology can quickly enter clinical application after being approved.

The National Healthcare Security Administration has added more than 100 price items related to new medical technologies.

According to a report by CCTV News, to support the innovative development of drugs and medical devices, the National Healthcare Security Administration has formulated a mechanism for the initial listing prices of newly launched drugs and added more than 100 price items related to new medical technologies.

It is reported that the National Healthcare Security Administration has started from aspects such as project establishment and pricing to smooth the charging channels for new technologies and help new technologies and products that meet urgent clinical needs achieve faster returns on investment. At present, more than 100 price items related to new products and equipment have been added in the 30 batches of project establishment guidelines that have been announced, basically forming a pattern of "parallel progress of price project establishment and technological innovation".

Among them, the report particularly emphasized the support for the clinical application and charging of brain-computer interface technology: The project establishment guidelines for neurological diseases have uniformly set up price items such as "brain-computer interface implantation fee" and "brain-computer interface adaptation fee". After the brain-computer interface technology matures and is approved for clinical use, it can quickly enter clinical application and be charged for.

In March this year, the National Healthcare Security Administration issued the "Guidelines for the Establishment of Neurological Medical Service Price Projects", which respectively established projects for "invasive brain-computer interface implantation fee", "invasive brain-computer interface removal fee", and "non-invasive brain-computer interface adaptation fee". It pointed out that it will guide provincial healthcare security administrations to refer to and implement relevant measures in light of actual situations, formulate unified provincial price benchmarks, and allow coordinated regions with pricing authority to determine the actual implementation price levels by floating up or down based on the provincial price benchmarks.

In recent months, some localities have publicized price items for medical services related to brain-computer interfaces:

On July 29, the Jiangsu Provincial Healthcare Security Administration drafted price items for medical services related to brain-computer interfaces in Jiangsu Province. The non-invasive brain-computer interface adaptation fee is 966 yuan per time, the invasive brain-computer interface implantation fee is 6,600 yuan per time, and the invasive brain-computer interface removal fee is 3,200 yuan per time.

On May 12, the Zhejiang Provincial Healthcare Security Administration added price items for medical services related to brain-computer interfaces. The prices for the adaptation fee, implantation fee, and removal fee are 960 yuan, 6,580 yuan, and 3,150 yuan per time respectively.

On March 31, the Hubei Provincial Healthcare Security Administration announced the prices for brain-computer interface medical services. The invasive brain-computer interface implantation fee is 6,552 yuan per time, the invasive brain-computer interface removal fee is 3,139 yuan per time, and the non-invasive brain-computer interface adaptation fee is 966 yuan per time.

In terms of clinical progress, China's brain-computer interface technology is ready to take off. Recently, at a series of symposiums on healthcare support for innovative drugs and medical devices held by the National Healthcare Security Administration, two medical institutions, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University and Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, shared the clinical application of new technologies such as brain-computer interfaces. Among them, the latter, in cooperation with the Shanghai Yansi Brain-like Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, has helped 10 epilepsy patients achieve "mental speech" through brain-computer interfaces.

Kaiyuan Securities pointed out that filling the price gap in brain-computer interface medical services is expected to accelerate the implementation and application of brain-computer interfaces. The downstream application market of brain-computer interfaces has great potential. The global market size of brain-computer interface medical applications is expected to reach 40 billion US dollars in 2030 and 145 billion US dollars in 2040. In addition, brain-computer interface technology also has great potential in markets such as sleep, health care, and consumer entertainment. It is optimistic about the accelerated implementation of the brain-computer interface industry under the resonance of policies and technologies.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily", author: Zhang Zhen. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.