Since this year, sick leave from the doctor has been digital. What saves employees the paperwork, however, causes growing resentment among employers. Small and medium-sized companies in particular complain: the anonymous procedure is not only a bureaucratic monster, it even increases absenteeism.
The sick note has been history since January. Employees no longer have to submit a sickness certificate at work. Instead, the employer should call up the sick note digitally from the health insurance company. This is a huge effort, especially for many small companies. According to a quick survey by the Bundesverband Der Mittelstand (BVMW), which ntv exclusively has in advance, the introduction of the electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU) went anything but smoothly. According to the survey, the completely anonymous sick leave process even makes it easier to turn off workers.
Accordingly, 78 percent of those surveyed stated that the changeover to the new eAU procedure was problematic. The main reason for Unmit is the independent retrieval of sick notes. According to BVMW information, members of the association have a considerable additional workload compared to the previous regulation. 87 percent therefore demand that the health insurance companies send the certificate automatically. This could reduce the additional effort for companies. Only just under 30 percent would like to keep the paper form as the standard.
BVMW chief economist Hans-Jürgen Völz considers the eAu, as intended by the legislator, to be anything but business-friendly. He advocates a direct, automated transfer. “It would be much easier if there were an automatic transfer from the treating doctor to the health insurance company and the employer himself,” says Völz ntv. The current implementation is far too bureaucratic: “The concept is proving more and more to be a bureaucracy monster.”
The association also complains that a completely anonymous sick leave process invites people to take sick leave. “The paper procedure was simpler in terms of process and, above all, it created a direct link between employee and employer. If the whole thing is anonymous and purely digital, there is a greater tendency for the sick leave to be misused,” says völz. And in the current situation of the German economy, the industry could not afford to do this.
In December, the leading association of statutory health insurance said: The one-year pilot phase was used sensibly to test systems, fix errors and create a very solid basis of almost four million test runs in real operation.
“The electronic certificate of incapacity for work is a success story and shows that the digitization of the healthcare system can succeed,” said CEO Doris Pfeiffer at the time. The result is a digital application “with real added value, especially for the insured”. “But employers and medical practices also benefit from less paperwork and lean processes.”
