A few days ago, Premier Li Keqiang chaired an executive meeting of the State Council, which clearly mentioned the need to gradually expand the coverage of centralized collection of high-value medical consumables, especially naming implant teeth to carry out centralized collection at the national and provincial levels.
For private stomatological hospitals represented by Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) (600763. SH), dental implant collection is always a “sword of Damocles”. At the beginning of 2021, representatives of the national two sessions proposed that the average treatment cost of one implant tooth ranged from 6000 yuan to 20000 yuan. If you plant complete teeth, it would be equivalent to buying a suite in the county. The speech once rushed to the hot search. In August and November last year, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province and Sichuan Province issued relevant documents respectively to plan the centralized purchase of dental consumables.
Previously, affected by factors such as the decline in profit growth and the expectation of intensive mining of dental implants, the share price of Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) known as “dental grass” has “fallen first for respect” – it has fallen by more than half since last year’s peak, and the market value has shrunk by more than 70 billion yuan.
One view is that after the intensive collection of dental implants, the planting expenses in public hospitals will be greatly reduced, so as to reduce the market share of private stomatology in the field of dental implants; Another view is that the centralized collection of implants is good for private specialized hospitals in the long run.
For private stomatological hospitals, is centralized mining good or bad? the reporter of the science and Innovation Board daily further learned that the consumables did not touch the core of the dental implant business, and the impact of intensive dental implant collection on private hospitals is actually limited.
consumables did not touch the core of implant business
The reason why the news of dental implant collection is lethal to private stomatology is that the implant business is one of the largest cakes of private stomatology. During the interview, the reporter of Kechuang board daily learned that the two largest revenues of dental clinics come from orthodontics and planting.
Taking Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) as an example, the financial report data over the years show that the three dental businesses of planting, orthodontics and pediatrics account for more than 50% of the company’s total revenue, and the three basically “share the world”; In addition, according to the prospectus of Dr. dental to go to Hong Kong for IPO, as of the end of June 2021, the dental implant business accounted for 45.3% of its total revenue.
However, in essence, the substantial impact of intensive dental implant collection on private oral cavity may be limited. One reason is that although dental implant business accounts for the majority of private oral revenue, dental implant consumables account for a small proportion.
A dental supplier told the science and Innovation Board daily that the core consumables of dental implants, namely implants, are very cheap in private hospitals. Due to the short procurement process, the procurement cost of implants is only between 300 yuan and 2000 yuan. “There is no water to squeeze, so there is no significance of centralized procurement”.
Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) also disclosed in the investor Research Report in October last year that the company is mainly responsible for providing medical services and paying according to the medical service results rather than according to the cost. Therefore, the price change of consumables has no obvious impact on the company.
the price reduction of public hospitals after centralized mining is also limited
After the centralized collection of dental implants, the cost of dental implant treatment is reduced. Will it attract more people to enter public hospitals for dental implant, resulting in the shrinkage of private dental implant business? This is another doubt of the market about private stomatology. According to the investigation by the reporter of science and Innovation Board daily, in the short term, the doubt is still lack of support.
On the one hand, the dental implant consumables in public hospitals do have water and there is room for price reduction. The above-mentioned suppliers told the reporter of science and Innovation Board daily that in public hospitals, due to the long procurement process and other reasons, the procurement cost of implants is about 5000 yuan to 6000 yuan, and there is room for price reduction.
But on the other hand, even if the centralized purchase reduces the cost of consumables, it is difficult to “hit down” the treatment cost together. For patients, the overall price reduction is limited. This is also because implant consumables are not the core factor in the implant business.
The reporter of the science and Innovation Board daily further investigated and learned that the main factor causing the high fees lies in labor.
The cost of dental implant consists of three items: implant, restoration abutment and treatment cost, of which the cost of the first two accounts for about 20% to 35%. In a public hospital, even the most expensive implant and abutment costs about more than 3000 yuan, accounting for only 20% of the total planting costs. Some media reported that dental implant doctors live on treatment fees.
the above-mentioned suppliers also told the reporter of science and Innovation Board daily, “even if the purchase cost of implants is reduced to 3000 yuan to 4000 yuan, the planting cost for patients will be 15000. If it is lower, no doctor may be willing to do it.”
Therefore, the price reduction of consumables may not greatly increase the “attraction” of dental implant business in public hospitals.
There are also dental clinic purchasers who told the SciDev board daily that even if the best price for quantity effect is achieved after centralized mining, a large number of dentists are needed to meet the incremental demand. At present, Chinese dentists are scarce. Therefore, private oral intervention is still needed.
According to the data, the number of licensed doctors in stomatology in 2019 is 195000. According to the demand, Liding industrial research expects that the number of diagnosis and treatment in stomatology in China will reach 186 million by 2022, with a huge gap. If the planting demand is further increased, the gap will be further opened.
in the long run, there are still uncertainties
At the same time, the reporter of science and Innovation Board daily also noted that the policy attitude towards reducing the cost of dental implant treatment has been more obvious.
In an interview with the media, Jin Chunlin, director of Shanghai Health and health development research center, said that reducing the cost of dental implant consumables is only the beginning, not the end, and there is a high probability that it will be introduced to national mining. Later, relevant measures will be taken to adjust the pricing of implant technology, so as to further reduce the price .
At that time, what impact will it have on private stomatology? In this regard, the reporter of science and Innovation Board daily tried to contact Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) . As of press time, no reply was received.
According to the above investor Research Report, Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) said that the company will actively promote the concept of Tongce high, middle and low oral supermarket through the action of common prosperity, increase low-cost planting projects, and promote the company’s share in the low-cost planting market. At that time, Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) also said that the company has more than 500 planting doctors, and it is expected to reach 600 to 700 by the end of 2021. If the production capacity is fully released, it can meet the demand of 200000 planting.
In addition, according to Topchoice Medical Co.Inc(600763) the top ten circulating shareholders announced in Q3 2021, the China EU medical and health hybrid a fund managed by “medicine goddess” Gran increased its holdings of 4.4117 million shares in the third quarter of 2021, while Zhang Kun and GUI Kai reduced their holdings in the third quarter of 2021.
