Health: Telephone child sickness notification for parents from December 18th

Parents will soon be able to obtain medical certificates stating that they need to care for a sick child by telephone and without having to visit the practice. This should be possible from December 18th, according to information from the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) and the umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies (GKV).

Maximum five days

Specifically, according to the GKV, certificates for the receipt of child sickness benefit should be able to be issued for a maximum of five days – if the child is known to the doctor and they consider issuing it over the telephone to be justifiable.

“This will significantly reduce the burden on parents and doctors’ practices,” said a GKV spokesman for the German Press Agency. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had previously asked the KBV and the health insurance companies to make such a regulation. The background to this is the possibility of making sick notes over the telephone for minor illnesses if patients are known in practices. The Joint Federal Committee of doctors, health insurance companies and clinics recently decided on a permanent regulation modeled on a special Corona regulation.

In a letter to the KBV and the health insurance companies, Lauterbach explained that the telephone sick note should not only relieve the burden on patients and practices in which the insured themselves are sick and unable to work – but also when children are sick and parents have to claim child sickness benefit require a medical certificate. This is “another important contribution to preventing infections in waiting rooms,” says the letter, which was first reported by the “Rheinische Post”.

Parents can take time off work for sick children up to the age of twelve. To do this, you have to go to the practice with the child to get a certificate. The fund then covers a large part of the loss of earnings and pays child sickness benefit – usually 90 percent of the lost net wages.

Number of children’s sick days increased

According to the ministry, a recently passed law regulates an increase in the number of days for which one can apply for child sickness benefit. According to special Corona regulations, there would actually have been 10 children’s sick days per year again from 2024 – the law increases the number for 2024 and 2025 to 15 days per child and parent.

In general, since December 7th, patients with minor illnesses no longer have to drag themselves into practices to receive a sick note for their job. The condition is that you are known to the practice and do not have any severe symptoms. You can then receive a certificate of incapacity for work for up to five days. You have to go to the practice for a follow-up certificate. If the first one was issued in the practice, the subsequent certificate is also possible by telephone. A similar special regulation in the Corona crisis, which was extended several times, expired in the spring.