Sick leave in the future via video chat
In principle, the employee who is disabled must immediately submit an AU (certificate of incapacity to work) to his employer. In the future, many workers should save themselves to a doctor's office if they want to have their own sick.
Doctors may collect the statutory health insured workers under certain conditions by video consultation . to adapt the nationwide rules.
However, some requirements must be met for a diagnosis by video consultation, namely:
- The employee is known in practice.
- The disease can be examined in a video consultation.
- In addition, the duration in the event of a first sick leave is limited to seven days.
- Patients are not entitled to.
- Education of the patient.
Not always possible
A sick leave by video can be issued for a maximum of seven calendar days for the first time. After that, the employee must consult the practice if he should continue to be sick. In the online consultation, a follow-up certificate is only permitted if the employee was personally in practice for the first sick leave.
Personal examination continued standard
Only via online questionnaire, chat survey or phone call, nobody may continue to be on sick leave.
The immediate personal examination by a doctor is still the standard for the determination of incapacity to work. Only in individual cases should it be possible to determine incapacity for work over a video consultation, regardless of pandemy.
The new option was created regardless of the corona pandemic, as the committee emphasized. In order to reduce the risk of infection and relieve practices in the Corona crisis, patients were able to get sick leave from March without a visit to the doctor. However, the special regulation of the G-BA expired on May 31. Now the G-BA has adjusted the work incapacity guideline accordingly.
Patients have no claim
The doctor decides whether to issue an AU after an online visit in certain cases. In general: If there is no sufficiently secure assessment of incapacity to work by video consultation, a personal examination in practice must be carried out. There is therefore no entitlement to the determination of incapacity for work by video consultation for insured persons.
Education of the patient
In the run -up to the video consultation, the patient/employee must be informed about the limited possibilities of finding for the purpose of determining the AU as part of the video consultation.
Further changes to the AU directive
From January 1, 2021, the copy of the AU will be digitized and electronically transmitted for the health insurance company. Employees who, for the care of a caring for care for the care of a care situation up to ten working days of work and receive the so -called care support allowance as a fee, are not considered to be unable to work according to § 2 Nursing Time Act . That has now been clarified.
The Federal Ministry of Health is currently examining the proposed changes that will come into force if the Federal Gazette has been released.
