The Resident Doctor

What The Resident Doctor does

The Resident Doctor (Der niedergelassene Arzt) is the flagship brand of WPV. Wirtschafts- und Praxisverlag GmbH, a German medical professional publisher founded in 1994 and headquartered in Cologne. The company operates a web-based specialist portal serving office-based (niedergelassene) physicians in Germany, including general practitioners, internists, and specialists across dermatology, neurology, gynecology, urology, orthopedics, and vascular medicine. Its product portfolio spans the flagship magazine 'der niedergelassene arzt', a set of specialty journals (HAUT, vasomed, and five Wirtschaftsmagazine titles covering dermatology, neurology, orthopedics/rheumatology, gynecology, and urology), E-Paper digital subscriptions with archival access, specialist books and DRM-protected e-books, and an integrated CME offering that automates reporting of earned points to the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer) EIV system.

The technology stack centers on a registration-gated web portal requiring an EFN (Einheitliche Fortbildungsnummer) to verify physician credentials, with analytics via Piwik PRO, bot protection via Cloudflare Turnstile, and digital journal delivery through E-Paper. Editorial production, ad sales, and CME operation are handled by a small in-house team led by managing directors Beate Stadge and Pascal Bourguignon, with separate editors-in-chief for the online portal, the flagship magazine, and the Wirtschaftsmagazine line, supported by a sales manager (Verkaufsleiter) and dedicated media consultants. Distribution extends into LinkedIn, YouTube, email newsletters (NewsUpdate), and a programmatic display channel built on partnerships with Healthy Programmatic and ID5.

The business model is a hybrid of subscription and advertising. Recurring subscription revenue comes from annual E-Paper access to the specialty journals, while one-time revenue is generated from book and e-book sales in dermatology, phlebology, and lymphology. Display advertising and sponsored content ('Anzeige' / 'mit freundlicher Unterstützung') are sold to pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and other healthcare advertisers targeting verified German HCPs, with programmatic layering via partner platforms. The platform also sells sponsored CME and dossier content. Pricing is largely undisclosed; advertising rates are published in annual Mediadaten PDFs and subscription tiers are not publicly enumerated. There is no public funding, no M&A activity, and the parent entity remains an independent GmbH.

Name

The Resident Doctor

Legal name

WPV. Wirtschafts- und Praxisverlag GmbH

Website

https://der-niedergelassene-arzt.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Resident Doctor (Der niedergelassene Arzt) is a Cologne-based medical professional publisher (WPV. Wirtschafts- und Praxisverlag GmbH) operating a registration-gated web portal and eight specialty journals, E-Paper subscriptions, CME courses, and books for office-based German physicians and pharma/medtech advertisers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAGAGAA

Medical & Clinical Reference (Physicians, Nursing, Allied Health)

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Professional & Technical Reference Publishing

SECONDARYEDAGAFAB

Medical, Clinical & Biomedical Scholarly Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

SECONDARYEDAGANAJ

Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE)

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Professional Development & Training Materials

Keywords

• Medical publishing
• Specialist journals
• Continuing medical education
• Healthcare media
• Medical E-Paper

Headquarters

HQ city

München

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Subscription Revenue: Revenue from E-Paper subscriptions for digital versions of specialist medical journals and magazines across multiple medical specialties (dermatology, neurology, gynecology, urology, orthopedics, vascular medicine)
2. Advertising Revenue: Revenue from display advertising in print and online formats. The platform sells advertising space to pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and other healthcare industry players. Also includes sponsored content and financed reporting marked as 'Anzeige' or 'mit freundlicher Unterstützung'
3. Book Sales: Sales of specialist medical books and E-Books in dermatology, phlebology, and lymphology. E-Books are DRM-protected and delivered via secure Microsoft OneDrive download links
4. Programmatic Advertising: Revenue from programmatic advertising through partnerships with Healthy Programmatic GmbH and ID5 Technology Ltd, serving personalized advertisements based on professional profile data

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Resident Doctor operates a multi-channel medical publishing platform for office-based physicians (niedergelassene Ärzte) in Germany, offering specialty journals across dermatology, neurology, gynecology, urology, orthopedics, and vascular medicine, along with E-Paper digital subscriptions, CME courses with automatic point reporting to the Bundesärztekammer, specialist medical books and E-Books, and an online member portal requiring EFN verification.

Product overview

The Resident Doctor (der niedergelassene arzt) is a multi-channel medical professional platform operated by WPV. Wirtschafts- und Praxisverlag GmbH. The offering consists of a portfolio of specialist journals and economic magazines spanning multiple medical specialties (dermatology, neurology, orthopedics, gynecology, urology, phlebology), the core news magazine 'der niedergelassene arzt' for general practitioners, and digital extensions including E-Paper subscriptions, CME continuing education courses with automatic point reporting to medical associations, personalized NewsUpdate newsletters, and ProUser content recommendations. The platform also includes specialist books in dermatology, phlebology, and lymphology. The portfolio is distributed across print publications, digital subscriptions, and an online portal requiring professional registration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HAUT: Dermatology journal with original and review articles for established dermatologists. Listed in medical database EMBASE/Excerpta Medica.
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die hautärztliche Praxis
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die nervenärztliche Praxis
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die orthopädische & rheumatologische Praxis
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die frauenärztliche Praxis
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die urologische Praxis
• vasomed
• Pro User

Products and services

• der niedergelassene arzt The primary news magazine for resident general practitioners, practitioners, and internists, providing medical research updates, CME content, and practice management guidance for office-based physicians in Germany.
• HAUT Scientific dermatology journal featuring original and review articles for resident dermatologists, listed in the EMBASE/Excerpta Medica medical database.
• vasomed The highest-circulation phlebological specialized journal in German-speaking countries, targeting vascular medicine specialists.
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die hautärztliche Praxis Economic magazine for dermatology practices providing billing tips, practice management, medicine, research, and pharmaceutical industry information.
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die nervenärztliche Praxis Economic magazine for neurology practices providing billing tips, practice management, medicine, research, and pharmaceutical industry information.
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die orthopädische & rheumatologische Praxis Economic magazine for orthopedic and rheumatology practices providing billing tips and practice management information.
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die frauenärztliche Praxis Economic magazine for gynecology practices providing billing tips, practice management, medicine, research, and pharmaceutical industry information.
• Wirtschaftsmagazin für die urologische Praxis Economic magazine for urology practices providing billing tips, practice management, medicine, research, and pharmaceutical industry information.
• E-Paper Digital Subscriptions Digital subscription service providing access to electronic versions of all specialty journals and magazines, including archives of past issues, available on an annual billing cadence.
• CME/Fortbildungen (Continuing Medical Education) Online CME courses with automatic reporting of earned CME points to the German Medical Association's electronic information distributor (EIV), with certificate download available. Covers topics such as atrial fibrillation, dermatology, and other medical specialties.
• Fachbücher (Specialist Books) Professional book program covering dermatology, phlebology, and lymphology topics, available as e-books with DRM protection delivered via Microsoft OneDrive, plus print editions sold via Vertriebsunion meynen GmbH.
• Online Portal with Member Access Professional web portal (der-niedergelassene-arzt.de) requiring medical professional registration with EFN (Einheitliche Fortbildungsnummer) verification, providing exclusive member content access, CME tracking, and personalized recommendations across 11 specialty categories.

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• direkt + online GmbHminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPharmaceutical marketing firm providing list-based target group data of physicians, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals compiled from publicly accessible directories for direct marketing purposes
• Healthy Programmatic GmbH (Wefra Life Gruppe)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerOnline advertising service provider for programmatic advertising, utilizing ID5 technology for audience identification and targeting healthcare professionals with personalized advertisements
• Vertriebsunion meynen GmbH & Co.KGminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistribution partner for print book orders and subscriptions, handling order processing and delivery for readers purchasing through the reader service

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Medscape (WebMD Health Corp.): Global physician content and CME platform. Comparable business model of news + CME + pharma advertising, though serving a much broader international audience.
• Thieme: Established German medical publisher producing specialty journals, textbooks, and CME for physicians. Comparable as a peer-to-peer medical publisher serving office-based and hospital clinicians in Germany.
• Urban & Vogel (Springer Medizin): Specialty medical journal publisher now integrated with Springer Medizin. Comparable as a multi-specialty German medical journal publisher with CME offerings.
• Springer Medizin (Springer Nature): Major German medical publisher with broad physician-facing portals, journals, and CME. Overlaps heavily on specialty journal publishing and physician audiences but operates at significantly larger scale across many specialties.
• Wort & Bild Verlag: Germany's largest health publisher producing popular and professional medical media. Competes for physician and pharma advertising budgets and physician attention across print and digital.

Emerging players

• Coliquio: German-language physician community and content platform offering CME and peer exchange. Digital-native competitor encroaching on the same verified-physician audience model.

Direct peers

• DocCheck: German physician login community and content portal offering CME, medical news, and industry advertising. Direct competitor for registered-physician traffic, CME delivery, and pharma ad spend.
• Medical Tribune: German medical news brand for office-based physicians covering specialty medicine, practice economics, and CME. Comparable positioning on the 'niedergelassene Arzt' target audience.
• ÄrzteZeitung: Daily medical newspaper and portal for German physicians covering clinical news, economics, and CME. Direct competitor for the resident physician reader and pharma advertising wallet.
• Deutscher Ärzteverlag: Publisher of the Deutsches Ärzteblatt, the official journal of the German Medical Association. Direct competitor targeting the same resident physician segment with news, CME, and professional content.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/otto-hoffmanns-verlag-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Resident Doctor