Guizhou Proposes to Standardize and Consolidate Oral Healthcare Service Pricing: 114 New Items Added, 448 Discontinued

*Image source: Guizhou Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau official website

GoodNews Dental｜The Guizhou Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau recently issued a public notice soliciting feedback on the Notice on Adding Oral Healthcare Service Pricing Items (Draft for Comment), with the comment period closing on December 2, 2025.

According to the draft, Guizhou Province plans to add 114 oral healthcare service pricing items while discontinuing 448 existing items. New items include "primary dentition malocclusion correction fee (routine)," while discontinued items include "comprehensive oral disease examination and treatment planning." The consolidation is implemented in accordance with the Guidelines for Establishing Oral Healthcare Service Pricing Items (Trial) issued by the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA).

Under the draft, each city and prefecture-level medical insurance bureau in Guizhou is required to compare pre- and post-consolidation differences in item scope, service output, and pricing structure when implementing the new oral healthcare service prices. Bureaus are to consolidate relevant item prices using a price migration approach — taking into account local historical price levels, prices in neighboring regions, historical adjustment records, labor costs, and service quality — to ensure that charges for the same service remain broadly equivalent before and after consolidation.

The draft introduces the concept of a "benchmark price," defined as the expected price adjustment reference level for oral healthcare service items at provincial-level medical institutions over the near term. Local authorities may adjust prices within a defined range above or below this benchmark to determine pricing for their respective pooling regions, with the goal of progressively achieving relative pricing parity for oral services across the province.

*Image source: Guizhou Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau — Draft on New Oral Healthcare Service Pricing Items

Among the newly added items, malocclusion correction fees are categorized by developmental stage. For example, the "primary dentition malocclusion correction fee" is divided into routine and complex cases, with complex cases defined as those involving skeletal Class III malocclusion, maxillary or dental arch constriction, craniofacial congenital deformities, or posterior crossbite/scissors bite.

Similarly, the Class I, II, and III malocclusion correction fees for the mixed dentition and permanent dentition stages are each further divided into routine and complex categories. Complex case criteria include open bite, severe deep overbite (Class III), impacted teeth, temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD), combined orthognathic surgery and orthodontic treatment, and adult orthodontics in patients aged 18 or older. All such items are priced per treatment course, with fees largely designated as "self-determined pricing."

Regarding medical insurance fund safety, the draft requires each city and prefecture-level medical insurance bureau to assess the impact of oral healthcare price adjustments on the stable operation of the insurance fund, in addition to routine dynamic pricing evaluation. For pooling regions where, as of the end of December 2024, the accumulated surplus of the employee medical insurance fund is sufficient to cover fewer than 6 months of payments, the accumulated surplus of the resident medical insurance fund covers fewer than 3 months, or where any single insurance fund's current expenditures exceed its revenues — price increases for oral healthcare services are suspended for the current year. Adjustments must account for local fund capacity, reduce the risk of unilateral price hikes, and avoid excessive impacts on local medical expenditure growth or insurance fund outlays.

The draft stipulates that all cities and prefectures in Guizhou must accelerate implementation of the new oral healthcare service pricing items, with full execution required no later than March 1, 2026. During rollout, local bureaus are required to strengthen policy interpretation, monitor public sentiment, track implementation outcomes closely, and promptly report any new issues or developments to the Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau.