Health
Sick leave via telephone possible again
The possibility of registering sick by telephone makes practice processes easier and also helps patients, according to the general practitioners’ association. photo
© Hannes P. Albert/dpa
Anyone who is already known to a doctor and does not have any serious symptoms of illness will be able to get a sick note again by telephone in the future.
Under certain conditions, patients will in future be able to receive a sick note from their doctor’s office by telephone. The regulation applies immediately, according to the Federal Joint Committee of Doctors, Health Insurance Companies and Clinics based in Berlin announced on Thursday.
According to the information, the regulation applies to patients who are known to the respective doctor’s practice and who do not have any severe symptoms. The prerequisite is that video consultations are not possible. The doctors can then issue a certificate of incapacity for work for a maximum of five days. The telephone sick note is intended to relieve the practice teams and reduce the risk of infection in the waiting rooms.
During the Corona crisis there was already a special regulation for sick leave over the telephone that had been extended several times. It expired in the spring. With the new resolution, the regulation will be permanently anchored. In the summer, the Federal Joint Committee was commissioned by law by the traffic light coalition to establish appropriate regulations for sick leave over the telephone.