Due to fair competition conditions for prescriptions with prescription drugs, DocMorris, a subsidiary of the Swiss Zur Rose Group, does not want to give Rx bonuses on e-prescriptions in the future, as this bonus payment is actually also prohibited. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) nevertheless declared bonuses on prescription medicines to be permissible in 2016 after much back and forth. Now, however, DocMorris is about to make a U-turn, although the effect it will have is not yet clear. Bonuses of up to 30 euros per prescription have been granted to patients. Even now DocMorris still advertises the redemption of paper prescriptions with a voucher of ten euros for new customers, but actually it was the mail-order company from Heerlen that wanted to revive digitization as quickly as possible. In future, however, patients would be rewarded for sending in the good old paper prescription. From now on, however, the online pharmacy will rely on a completely new strategy, namely the epharmacy platform idea. On DocMorris‘ so-called marketplace, patients can choose between the mail-order pharmacy and other stationary pharmacies. According to Olf Heinrich, CEO at DocMorris, 90 percent of patients visit the marketplace, who then order from local pharmacies as customers of the platform. Only ten percent, it is calculated, is accounted for by the large mail-order pharmacy, which, however, would like to work in partnership with the stationary pharmacies. According to Walter Oberhänsli, head of the parent company Zur Rose, the profitability of the Group should nevertheless be increased by reducing the bonus payments. The store pharmacy is also currently (still) granting bonuses and has increased by 13 and 23 percent respectively in the Rx segment in the last two quarters, while DocMorris‘ business in this area has been rather sluggish, allegedly due to scaled-down marketing strategies. DocMorris is also currently only assigned e-prescription from the TC pilot project that needs to be supplied. However, the TK and other health insurance companies are not interested in paying for drugs, while the patients insured by them receive bonuses. At DocMorris, however, the company believes that the convenience of customers is ultimately greater than the lure of discounts, bonuses and premiums.
