Lauterbach wants telephone sick notes for parents
It already applies to employees who are ill: sick leave by telephone. Federal Health Minister Lauterbach now wants to enforce this for children too. He hopes that this will lead to fewer infections in overcrowded waiting rooms.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to introduce telephone sick notes for parents of sick children. Only recently, the telephone sick note for adults who are ill themselves, which was practiced in earlier waves of the coronavirus, was reintroduced.
Lauterbach asked the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV) in a letter to the Düsseldorf newspaper "Rheinische Post" to reach a corresponding agreement in the near future. Sick notes by telephone should also be possible "if children are ill and parents require a medical certificate to claim child sickness benefit". Lauterbach explained in the letter that this should relieve the burden on doctors' surgeries. The step is also "another important contribution to preventing infections in waiting rooms".
At the beginning of December, the Federal Joint Committee of the healthcare system decided that, with immediate effect, patients no longer have to go to a doctor's surgery to obtain a sick note for minor illnesses. Under certain conditions, this is now possible on a permanent basis and is based on an earlier special coronavirus regulation.
It remains to be seen whether and when the option suggested by Lauterbach will also be available to parents for children's sick pay.
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Health insurance companies and Doctors will need to agree on enabling telephone sick notes for parents whose children are ill, as suggested by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. This could help reduce the burden on doctors' surgeries and prevent infections in waiting rooms, similar to the practice for adults who are ill themselves.
Source: www.ntv.de
