Possible discount giant: DAK is considering joint tenders with GWQ

The public sick fund DAK Gesundheit could play a future role in the bid for discount agreements for service provider GWQ ServicePlus AG. This presumption emerges from a special report by specialist portal „Apotheke Adhoc“. Although there are no concrete plans as of yet, it is thought an approach is being considered.

The background to the speculation is that DAK Gesundheit, in the wake of mergers with BKK Axel Springer and BKK Gesundheit, already possessed modified discount arrangements. Whilst the discount contracts of DAK apply for BKK Axel Springer, the contracts of BKK Gesundheit still exist.

Although it is assumed that DAK and GWQ still operate independently, it was last reported that they have 216 agents with a total volume of EUR 900 million. In the future, there could be a joint bid, which is likely to make waves in the competition between health insurance companies looking to negotiate discount agreements. If the DAK were to join the GWQ, this would add an additional 6 million insured people, positioning the group second in the nation, behind only AOK (24 million), in terms of buyer power (14 million).

Commentary: Whether the third largest public sickness fund will benefit from this possibility of increased bargaining power under the umbrella of GWQ remains to be seen. Of interest to the health care industry is whether this decision for DAK is taken.

After the DAK started in 2008 with a small tender for hipsters, it followed this in 2012 with a tender for incontinence products in pharmacies, and most recently in May in another resource market with inhalers.

[ilink url=“http://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/nachrichten/politik/dak-bald-neuer-rabatt-riese?page=full#text“] Link zur Quelle (Apotheke Adhoc)[/ilink]