After the implementation of the proposed provisions, from October 1, the medical assistant will be able to issue sick leaves to us, also in electronic form, on behalf of the doctor. It goes, among others for nurses, paramedics, medical secretaries.
- On Wednesday, the government adopted a draft amendment to the law, which provides that medical certificates, including sick leaves, will be issued by medical assistants
- It is about a draft amendment to the Act on cash benefits from social insurance in the event of sickness and maternity and the Act on health care benefits financed from public funds
- In a communiqué following the government meeting, CIR pointed out that after the proposed regulations are implemented from October 1, 2018, a medical assistant will be able to issue e-exemptions on behalf of a doctor.
– In practice, this means that the doctor (dentist, medical assistant and senior medical assistant) will be relieved of the burdensome administrative duties and will be able to devote more time to e.g. to perform medical activities (assessment of the patient’s health condition and treatment) and adjudication of temporary incapacity to work. The introduced regulation means real support for doctors (they will not have to write out exemptions personally) and will help to eliminate the paper flow of documents – underlined. This solution will apply to approx. 186 thousand. doctors and dentists.
Pursuant to the draft act, a doctor (with an information profile) will be able to authorize a doctor (with an information profile) to issue a sick leave – on his behalf and on the basis of medical documentation – of an employee performing a medical profession or auxiliary activities in providing health services (having an information profile). It goes, among others for nurses, paramedics, medical secretaries. The authorization may be issued for a period not longer than 12 months (after that time, further authorizations may be granted for periods not longer than 12 months).
In addition, the proposed regulations assume that the newly created Register of Medical Assistants (kept by the Minister of Health) will collect data on persons authorized to write out exemptions, which will then be transferred to the Social Insurance Institution. ZUS is to verify whether it is possible to provide an authorized person with the possibility of issuing sick leaves in the form of an electronic document (this is to check whether the authorized person has an information profile created at ZUS on the Electronic Services Platform – PUE portal). However, the responsibility for entrusting this task to an authorized person will rest with the physician.
After the amendment to the regulations, the tasks of the National Health Fund will also include financing the computerization of healthcare services and related training. These regulations are to come into force after 14 days from the date of their publication in the Journal of Laws.
According to the draft amendment, in 2018 the minister of health, through the National Health Fund, will be able to co-finance the purchase of IT devices (computer hardware) and software as well as the necessary training of service providers with the amount of up to PLN 50 million. It was also proposed that in 2019 the costs of collecting and recording health insurance contributions deducted by ZUS should be temporarily reduced from 0,20 to 0,175 percent. This will enable the transfer of additional funds from the National Health Fund for the needs of computerization and training for service providers. These provisions should enter into force 14 days from the date of their publication in the Journal of Laws.