According to the official website of the National Medical Insurance Administration, in order to deeply implement the deployment of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on centralized and quantity based procurement of drugs and consumables, and to meet the requirements of the 2024 Government Work Report on "improving the national drug centralized procurement system", the National Medical Insurance Administration recently issued the "Notice of the Office of the National Medical Security Administration on Strengthening Regional Cooperation to Improve the Quality and Expansion of Drug Centralized Procurement in 2024" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The Notice proposes to continue vigorously promoting centralized and volume based procurement of pharmaceuticals, strengthening regional collaboration, enhancing the scale and standardization of alliance procurement, clarifying industry expectations, and continuously consolidating reform achievements. This mainly includes the following four parts: firstly, expanding the scope of the alliance and forming a national alliance for centralized procurement. On the basis of national organized centralized procurement of drugs and high-value medical consumables (referred to as "national organized procurement"), we will strengthen regional collaboration and upgrade provincial-level alliance procurement that meets the conditions to national alliance procurement (referred to as "national joint procurement"). National joint procurement should be carried out in a standardized and efficient manner, with good execution monitoring and enhanced effectiveness; Fair treatment of all types of business entities and strict prevention of "local protection". This is conducive to achieving centralized procurement and nationwide follow-up, helping to unify the national market, reducing the cost of repeated bidding for enterprises, and creating a good business environment. The second is to strengthen overall planning and coordination, and reasonably determine the types of procurement. Strengthen overall coordination in the selection of centralized procurement varieties, and achieve mutual complementarity between the national and local governments. The national organization's centralized procurement focuses on drugs that have passed consistency evaluation, as well as high-value medical consumables with inflated prices and strong public feedback. The key focus of national joint procurement is to cover varieties other than those organized by the state, as well as "large varieties" with large procurement amounts and wide coverage, continuously expanding the coverage of centralized procurement. The third is to focus on key areas and actively promote the expansion of centralized procurement in 2024. In terms of drugs, we will carry out new batches of national organized procurement, and ensure the continued procurement of insulin and previous batches of centralized procurement drugs after the expiration of the agreement; Focus on guiding Hubei to continue to take the lead in the centralized procurement of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations, Shandong to take the lead in the centralized procurement of Chinese herbal pieces, Henan to take the lead in organizing the centralized procurement of alternative drugs, and Sanming Alliance to carry out the national joint procurement of drugs such as the centralized procurement of drugs for tumors and respiratory diseases. In terms of consumables, the state organizes the centralized procurement of new batches of high-value medical consumables and the procurement of artificial joints; Key guidance will be given to seven provinces, including Jiangxi, Anhui, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Henan, and Hebei, to lead the nationwide procurement of medical consumables such as in vitro diagnostic reagents, ultrasound scalpels, ligation clips, coronary cutting balloons, and vascular interventions. The fourth is to improve the execution mechanism and enhance the effectiveness of the centralized procurement system. Strengthen the functions of leading provinces and strengthen procurement execution; Encourage and guide village clinics, private medical institutions, and retail pharmacies to participate in centralized procurement; Smooth feedback channels for medical institutions and selected enterprises to ensure the quality, supply, priority use, and timely payment of selected products; Focusing on centralized procurement to improve the online procurement rate of medical consumables; Incorporate the execution status of the selected results from centralized procurement into the scope of medical insurance fund flight inspections. (Lai Xin She)