Coronavirus: telephone sick leave was extended

adminonJuly 21, 2022Leave a Comment

Sick leave by phone – that is due to the situation surrounding the Coronavirus Possible since March. Now the arrangement has been extended to 18. May, it would otherwise have expired on 4. May expired. This was announced by the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) on Wednesday.

The extension takes place "due to the continuing crisis situation" to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Patients can thus for the time being continue to be certified as unfit for work for a maximum of one week after taking a medical history by telephone. Sick leave can be extended once if illness persists.

The regulation had been decided in March by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) together with the umbrella organization of the statutory health insurance funds. Everything you need to know about this exemption:

Sick leave on the phone: To whom does the regulation apply??

workers suffering from a mild respiratory illness – such as a a cold or a flu-like infection -, do not need to be examined by a doctor in person. You can take a sick leave after consulting a doctor by phone.

After the telephone anamnesis, the doctor sends the patient the Certificate of Incapacity (AU) by mail to.

AU certificate by telephone: Who is exempt from the rule?

If a patient shows severe symptoms, he is exempt from the new rule. Also, those who had contact with a person in the 14 days prior to becoming ill with the new Coronavirus has been detected, or who has been in an area with Covid 19 cases, falls off the grid.

Coronavirus: telephone sick leave was extended

Basically, this includes all people who meet criteria set by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for a suspected infection with Covid-19 meet. All such individuals should continue to be tested by designated agencies to slow the spread of the virus. Read here: Suspicion of Covid-19 – how to act?

For how long can the telephone AU be ied?

A doctor can ie the "yellow slip" by telephone for a maximum of seven days exhibit. It can be renewed once.

Why did KBV and GKV-Spitzenverband introduce the new regulation?

Phone sick leave option should ease burden on both doctors and patients. On the one hand, healthcare experts are thus addressing patients' concerns about possibly contracting the coronavirus only when they visit their doctor in the waiting room. On the other hand, there is the goal of relieving doctors' practices.

"At the same time, the risk of avoidable spread of infectious diseases of the upper respiratory tract via the waiting rooms of doctors' offices should be reduced," the deputy chairman of the KBV, Dr. Stephan Hofmeister, quoted in a press release.

How long does the exemption last?

The special regulation to the AU certificate by telephone applied starting from 9. March initially for 4 weeks, that is, until Sunday, 5. April. Since the first decision, the rule has already been extended twice. However, there was also a dispute about this. In mid-April, the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) of doctors, hospitals and health insurers had decided to dissolve the special rule. There had been massive criticism of this. Now the exemption has been extended again.

U.S. researchers have developed a possible approach to storing donor organs for longer, dpa reports. In the laboratory, they succeeded in gently deep-freezing animal tie parts using a special process and then reheating them just as gently and at lightning speed by means of magnetic nanoparticles in an induction field.

This could open up the possibility of storing ties and organs for the long term at some point, writes the team led by Navid Manuchehrabadi of the University of Minnesota in the journal Science Tranlational Medicine. Until now, donor organs have often had to be transplanted within hours because otherwise they are no longer functional. However, according to a German expert, it will probably be decades before the new system is ready for use.

The super-fast cooling process called vitrification has been possible for some time now. Water is removed from the cells and replaced with a cryoprotectant. This is to prevent ice crystals from forming during freezing, which would damage the tie. The process is also used for egg freezing.

The problem with organs has so far been the thawing process. It has to be done quickly and evenly so that tie is not damaged and remains functional. So far, this has only been possible on a very small scale.

Now the researchers have achieved success by introducing nanoparticles of iron oxide together with the cryoprotective agent into the tie prior to freezing. They were able to heat the particles evenly and quickly with the help of electromagnetic waves. The tie could be warmed by 100 to 200 degrees in a minute by this method. This was 10 to 100 times faster than previous methods, the researchers write.

In the 1 to 50 millimeter biological samples – including skin connective tie cells, pieces of an artery and a heart valve from a pig – a subsequent examination showed no changes in the ties. The nanoparticles could be washed out later without leaving any residue, the researchers report.

"But now the whole thing has to succeed at a higher level," co-author John Bischof emphasized in a conference call. Larger, human organs also require adapted solutions in order to freeze them intact and also to distribute the cryoprotective liquid with the iron oxide particles sufficiently.

Co-author Kelvin Brockbanck estimates that it will take seven to ten years before these problems are solved and organ banks are conceivable. Currently, hearts and lungs can be stored for about four hours, livers and pancreases for up to 12 hours and kidneys for up to 36 hours. In the U.S., according to the study, 60 percent of donor hearts and lungs are thrown away because they can't get to a recipient in time.

For Germany, however, the situation is different, emphasizes Jan Gummert (Bochum University Hospital), a heart surgeon and member of the board of the German Transplantation Society. "We don't even have enough donor organs for an organ bank. Five to ten recipients are waiting for each organ."The proportion of donor organs that would not be used would be in the per mille range. In fact, the German Organ Donation Foundation reported a low in organ donations in January.

Currently, organ freezing is not yet helping, Gummert says. "If donor organs were abundant – for example, through xenotransplants – then such a method would be useful in everyday clinical practice." Xenografts are organs grown in animals that are then implanted in humans. But it is not yet an established technology.

Gummert still sees many unanswered questions about the U.S. researchers' new storage technique. "About whether the solution can also be injected into complex organs."The transplantation expert estimates that it will take decades of research before such a procedure becomes a reality. Nevertheless, the nanoparticle project is fundamentally exciting and has great potential for other areas as well.

The U.S. researchers believe it is also possible to use induction heating in cancer medicine. Prerequisite: the nanoparticles would have to be introduced specifically into tumor cells. This could destroy the cancer cells. Similar procedures are already being tested – years ago, Charite researcher Andreas Jordan made such an approach known in the fight against brain tumors. However, according to the German Cancer Research Center, selective hyperthermia with nanoparticles is not yet particularly widespread.

A balancing belt between trees, beanbags, several huts around it: The "BI X" digital laboratory at Boehringer Ingelheim, which has been in operation for about a year, doesn't look at all like the premises of a pharmaceutical company. Where the guest canteen used to be housed, IT specialists are now tinkering with new product ideas, beyond pills or capsules. Flat-screen monitors line one wall in "BI X". They show the status of the work of five teams pursuing various pilot projects.

Boehringer is looking for new business models in the digital environment, says "BI X" head Heiko Schmidt to the Deutsche Presse Agentur. The laboratory, in which the Ingelheim-based company invested around ten million euros at the start of the project, works together with all Group divisions. The aim, he says, is to test new ideas for technical feasibility and potential benefits in a short space of time and to develop working prototypes within a few months. Initial projects have been completed, such as a digital portal for exchanges between pet owners and veterinarians.

What will come on the market is not foreseeable

"In the U.S., pet owners have recently been able to arrange and conduct virtual doctor visits via video instead of having to drive to the doctor's office with their pet," Schmidt explains. In artificial intelligence, teams are working on ways to use learning algorithms to better diagnose diseases. What will end up on the market is not yet foreseeable. Many things have to be tried, says Boehringer's Germany boss Stefan Rinn. There is always a risk that something will not work, even after months of work.

Like Boehringer, others in the industry are experimenting in new fields, such as Merck in Darmstadt, Germany. The group opened its new innovation center for the 350th anniversary celebrations in May. The futuristic building made of concrete and glass cost around 69 million euros. On six floors, there are modern offices, conference rooms, recreation zones, an auditorium and a work zone with laser cutting and 3D printers.

The goal is "a creative and agile environment where curious minds come together to develop new technologies for our future business," Merck CEO Stefan Oschmann said at the opening ceremony. The center is home to 150 internal and external employees.

For instance, they are working on biotech solutions for meat grown in the lab from tie and simple quantities in the human body for data-based disease treatments. The third important area is technologies to detect and treat diseases based on traces in blood samples.

565 startups also applied for a spot at the center. Ten are to be awarded the contract and move in in January. Merck is paying a lot for the prospect of ideas from outside the company: The companies receive offices, training and up to 50 employees over a period of three months.000 euros.

Specialists are wanted

The hip innovation center is also intended to show that the rather conservative family-owned company Merck is opening up and is competitive as an employer. Because software developers and scientists are in demand in the shortage of skilled workers: According to the digital association Bitkom, Germany alone lacks 55.000 IT specialists.

Software specialists and data scientists are sought after by companies in many sectors of the economy, explains Thilo Kaltenbach, a healthcare expert at the consulting firm Roland Berger. Pharmaceutical companies would therefore have to present themselves attractively. This can be achieved through collaboration on exciting innovations, involvement in strategic decision-making processes, but also through personal ies such as appreciation, flexible working hours or home office solutions.

The problem can be that it's not easy to assess what added value innovation centers bring in terms of revenue and profit, says the consultant. While everyone is convinced of the benefits and importance of digitization and artificial intelligence. In the medium term, however, there is a need for objectively measurable success criteria.

International teams

"We need to recruit internationally," Boehringer's "BI X" lab chief Schmidt also says. The working language is English, 51 people from 19 nations are employed here, most of them less than 30 years old. Unlike in the past, the sought-after experts cannot be lured with company cars, but rather with flights home to their parents.

In Boehringer's lab, teams only become active when no start-up is yet working on a similar idea, i.e., there is not yet a solution on the market, as Schmidt says. It is important for the teams to sit together in Ingelheim. "Our experience has been that virtual teams don't work like that. We don't have much time."

The classic development of active ingredients is very heavily regulated, while working in innovation centers is something new, says Kaltenbach. It is also important for the pharmaceutical industry not to leave the field to tech companies such as Google or Amazon. "Businesses are going through a bit of a revolution here right now."

Sick leave on the phone: To whom does the regulation apply??

AU certificate by telephone: Who is exempt from the rule?

For how long can the telephone AU be ied?

Why did KBV and GKV-Spitzenverband introduce the new regulation?

How long does the exemption last?

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