Impact of a medical supply bulk-buy program on treatment of patients with coronary artery disease in China: A single-center study

BACKGROUND: The Chinese government recently introduced a program to buy medical supplies in bulk to reduce the patient cost burden. For patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), little is known about the effect on outcomes of this bulk-buy program. AIMS: This study investigated whether the bulk-buy program to decrease the price of stents used in PCI affected clinical decision-making and outcomes. METHODS: This single-center study enrolled patients undergoing PCI from January 2020–December 2021. Prices decreased for stents on January 1, 2021, and balloons on March 1, 2021. Patients were grouped by surgical year as either before (2020) or after (2021) policy implementation. All clinical data were collected. To examine whether clinical decision-making for PCI was affected by the bulk-buy program, procedure appropriateness was analyzed using the 2017 appropriate use criteria (AUC). To assess outcomes, the rates of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) and complications were compared between groups. RESULTS: Study participants were 601 patients in 2020 (before bulk buying) and 699 patients in 2021 (after bulk buying). Results of analysis by AUC for procedure appropriateness were 74.5% appropriate, 21.6% may be appropriate, and 3.8% rarely appropriate in 2020, with no differences for patients who underwent PCI in 2021. Between-group comparisons showed MACCE rates of 0.5% in 2020 and 0.6% in 2021, whereas complication rates were 5.5% and 5.7%, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found between groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The bulk-buy program did not impact physician clinical decision-making or surgical outcomes for patients undergoing PCI.