In view of the numerous cases of colds and corona diseases, the chairman of the German General Practitioners Association, Ulrich Weigeldt, called it “a real nuisance” that the possibility of determining incapacity for work (AU) by telephone had not been included in standard care.

"The telephone AU would provide real relief," says Weigeldt of the dpa.

"We want to make it possible for the resident doctors to be able to write sick patients over the phone, regardless of the corona pandemic," said Stephan Hofmeister, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), on Tuesday to the German Press Agency.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is open to the demand.

It should be decided soon.

Preliminary talks were under way.

"With the high number of Covid cases, we do not need to carry the infections to the practice," emphasized the minister on Twitter.

Since June 1st, patients have had to go back to the practice or to a video consultation for sick leave.

In the case of minor diseases of the upper respiratory tract, during the corona pandemic until May 31st, this was possible for up to seven days even after only a telephone consultation.

Such regulations are decided by the Federal Joint Committee on Health Care (G-BA).

The committee is made up of representatives of the medical profession, health insurance companies and hospitals and decides on the services of the statutory health insurance funds and rules such as sick leave.

According to a G-BA spokeswoman, it is possible to return to the option of taking sick leave by telephone.

In the spring, the committee discussed intensively "whether it is right to let the previous special regulations for telephone sick leave expire at the end of May 2022," she told the dpa.

All sponsors of the G-BA and thus also the KBV as the representative of the medical profession agreed at the time that such special rules could be withdrawn because of the calmer pandemic situation at the time.

This was done in line with everyday relaxation.

"Should the corona pandemic pick up speed again, the Federal Joint Committee can activate its special regulations (...) again," says the spokeswoman.

This can happen in certain regions or, if necessary, nationwide.

For this purpose, among other things, an application would have to be submitted to the committee.

According to the G-BA spokeswoman, this could come from the sponsors of the committee, such as the KBV.

A doctor's visit is not always necessary

According to its own information, the latter has already made a proposal for permanent sick leave by telephone.

According to this, the representatives of the statutory health insurance physicians want this option “both for infections and other illnesses for up to seven days”, provided that a doctor’s visit is “not absolutely necessary”.

This would permanently relieve the medical practices, it was said to justify.

They are currently full because of infections and Covid 19 diseases.


Weigeldt said: "A personal consultation with the family doctor is not always absolutely necessary, for example in the case of a simple flu infection or a mild course of the corona virus."

As a rule, both sides have known each other for a long time, says Weigeldt.

Abuse is very rare.

"Instead, the patients are now being forced to drag themselves to the doctor's office when they are sick, without this being medically absolutely necessary."

Health insurance companies see no need

The statutory health insurance companies, which are also represented in the G-BA, currently see no reason to return to sick leave by telephone.

This helped during the peak phase of the pandemic "and could, depending on the development of the pandemic, possibly do it again," says the spokesman for the Central Association of Health Insurance Funds (GKV), Florian Lanz, on request.

"Against the background of the increasing incidences, we are carefully monitoring the development, but do not see any need for action on a daily basis," he says.

According to the Robert Koch Institute, a sharp increase in corona infections can currently be observed.

It is dominated by the omicron subline BA.5.

In addition, data and assessments from doctors and pharmacists show that there are unusually many respiratory infections in Germany for this time of year.