Telephone sick note: These conditions apply from now on

Telephone sick note
These conditions apply from now on

The new regulation on telephone Sick leave has come into effect. According to consistent media reports, the responsible Joint Federal Committee of doctors, health insurance companies and clinics waved through the Bundestag resolution that had already been in place since the summer on December 7th and thus immediately put it into effect. As was the case during the Corona pandemic, employees can now obtain a certificate of incapacity for work from their family doctor by telephone. However, some exceptions, conditions and limitations apply. Some innovations have also been decided.

On the one hand, patients are only allowed to show mild symptoms of the disease, but the type of illness is no longer limited to respiratory diseases as was the case during the corona pandemic. It is now also possible to make a sick note over the telephone for other ailments such as malaise, period pain, migraines, diarrhea or simply a mild headache.

Telephone AU only for a maximum of five days

The Bundestag resolution only mentions the condition that “no severe symptoms” must be present. The Federal Committee also did not specify this requirement any further, leaving the decision to the doctor who knows the patient’s medical history and can best evaluate and assess whether a personal appearance at the practice is necessary or not.

Another condition is that you must be familiar with your family doctor. Specifically, this means that you must have been there for treatment or an examination at least once in the last two years in order for the doctor to be allowed to issue a sick note over the telephone. The doctor also has to make sure that the person calling is actually the person who is sick and needs an AU.

As the media also consistently reports, telephone AU is now limited to a maximum of five calendar days. The umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies argued that the opportunities for doctors to assess the illness over the telephone were reduced. The document issued must have “reliable evidentiary value” to employers.

Great relief for the practices

Doctors’ practices are currently suffering from a high burden of illness among the population and are hopelessly overloaded in many places. That’s why this new regulation comes in handy for many doctors. This is what the head of the general practitioner association Markus Beier told “Deutschlandfunk”that this helps everyone involved. He rated the potential for abuse as low. “We need time for the really sick,” said Beier.

In an interview with the “Handelsblatt”, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also spoke out in favor of telephone sick leave. This is a “significant relief for employees, employers and doctors”.

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