China Issues Clinical Testing Pricing Guidelines, Completing National Framework

China's National Healthcare Security Administration has officially released trial guidelines for medical clinical testing service pricing, establishing a nationwide benchmark across major diagnostic fields. The new document comprises 662 primary items, 114 surcharge items, and 7 extension items covering biochemistry, molecular diagnostics, and other key areas. This release marks the completion of a multi-year project across 40 batches of pricing guidelines, cementing a unified medical service pricing structure aimed at eliminating regional disparities and facilitating mutual recognition of test results.

Standardising medical service pricing items is fundamental to China's ongoing healthcare pricing reform. By introducing unified categories for over 600 clinical testing items, the guidelines resolve longstanding regional inconsistencies where identical indicators carried disparate pricing codes and methodologies. This standardized framework provides institutional backing for cross-hospital recognition of test results and helps prevent redundant examinations for patients.

China's National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) has officially released the Trial Guidelines for Medical Service Price Project Formulation in Clinical Testing, establishing a unified national standard for diagnostic testing fees across the country's public healthcare system. The guideline specifies 662 primary items, 114 surcharge items, and 7 extension items. It encompasses mainstream diagnostic categories including routine clinical testing, blood transfusion and blood typing, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, parasitology, and molecular diagnostics. According to domestic media reports citing state broadcaster CCTV, the document provides a clear national "measuring stick" for testing services ranging from basic blood and urine analyses to complex microbial screening and genetic testing. The release of this testing-specific guideline marks the full conclusion of the NHSA's multi-year effort to compile 40 batches of medical service pricing guidelines, establishing the core framework of China's unified medical service pricing system. In recent years, China's in vitro diagnostics (IVD) industry has expanded rapidly, reaching an estimated market scale of approximately 130 billion yuan in 2025. However, the sector has long faced fragmented regional pricing practices. Inconsistent item naming and methodology-dependent pricing across provinces have created significant obstacles to the mutual recognition of clinical test results between medical institutions, often resulting in duplicated tests and unnecessary costs for patients. By consolidating methodology-based variations under standardized primary items and uniform categories, the new guidelines aim to eliminate regional price distortions and support national initiatives for inter-hospital test result sharing, thereby rationalizing medical spending for both patients and the national health insurance fund.