OBJECTIVES In China, increasing CHD patients accept PCI treatment, with about 40% GR annually from 1984 to 2005; however, some have alleged that it was abused. Further, the China Basic Medical Insurance (BMI) Authority also felt financial pressure due to the escalating use. Therefore, the China Health Insurance Research Association (CHIRA) decided to evaluate the value of coronary stenting as the evidence for appropriate regulation. METHODS This observational, prospective study involved 20 sites (13 cities). A total of 630 of 720 planned cases were recruited from July 2005 to July 2006 with one year follow up. The study evaluated clinical and economic value of stenting by collecting clinical, cost, and QoL data. Retrospective data collected included reimbursement policy and actual claim data in 2005 and first half of 2006, to estimate the economic burden and budget impact and to analyze the cost-influence factors. RESULTS 1) There was generally not evident abuse in PCI/stenting in the available data; 2) The effectiveness of PCI/stenting is favorable, with 1.43% complication, 0.98% death, 0.82% incidence of MI, and 1.79% of revascularization. All SEs are significantly lower than those seen published rates. The QoL scores improved significantly (+20, SF-36); 3) Stenting can gain $7100 per incremental QALY; 4) PCI fees are influenced considerably by the number of diseased vessels, co-morbidity, and reimbursement policy; 7) The price of PCI is lower than its cost, and thus it's mainly reimbursed by pharmaceutical and device use; and 8) the economic burden of PCI was heavy in 2006. The out-of-pocket part of PCI was equal to an employee's average annual salary or twice that of a retiree's pension. CONCLUSIONS Stenting is cost effective with favorable QoL improvement. Therefore, it's worthwhile to further improve reimbursement regulations to release a patients' economic burden.