The starting date can also be brought forward by one day for outpatient visits, no longer just for home visits. The news also applies to continuations and relapses, but not to Saturdays, Sundays and holidays
The illness now begins the day before the medical certificate is issued. Not always, but very often and for many workers. The INPS has established new rules on the criteria with which the economic coverage of the disease is calculated, widening the scope of protection also to those who are visited in the clinic and not just at home. The circular clarifies everything on a much discussed point: the exact day the allowance starts when you get sick and the doctor is unable to visit the worker on the same day you call him.
Illness and retroactive certificate: the main innovation of the INPS circular
The big news concerns the possibility of making the onset of the illness coincide, for the purposes of payment of the allowance, with the day before the day on which the certificate is written. Until now this possibility was reserved for those who received the doctor at home; from now it also applies to outpatient visits, i.e. to the general practitioner. In practice, if a worker feels ill on Monday but only finds a place to see his doctor on Tuesday, he will still be able to receive the allowance starting from Monday, as long as the certificate contains the correct indication. Why this change? The INPS speaks clearly: there are fewer and fewer general practitioners available, increasingly full diaries and visits by appointment only. This risks unfairly penalizing those who were unable to be examined on the same day as the call.
How counting sick days works from now on and what the doctor must write
However, for the previous day to be effectively recognised, the doctor must correctly complete the medical certificate that he sends to INPS. The date of onset of symptoms must be clearly written in the document, with the precise indication of the day immediately preceding the visit. The type of visit carried out must also be specified: home or, as now possible, outpatient. The “retroactive” certificate is only permitted for one day. If the date indicated as the start of the illness was further away in time, INPS would still not recognize that day as covered and the starting date would once again be that of the actual issuing of the certificate. Attention: the change also applies to certificates of continuation and relapse of the disease.
The exceptions: weekends and holidays remain outside the new rule
However, there are exceptions. Previous day coverage does not apply when that day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday. In these circumstances, in fact, the worker must turn to the continuity of care service, the old medical guard. This means that anyone who feels ill, for example, on a Saturday and is only able to see their doctor on the following Monday will not be able to count on the automatic extension. For those days, in fact, the medical guard intervenes, who can certify the illness on non-working days for the general practitioner.
What workers must do to obtain the “retroactive” medical certificate
In order not to lose the benefit, the advice for employed workers is simple: call the doctor immediately as soon as symptoms appear. At the time of the visit, it is then advisable to ask for the precise date of onset of the illness to be reported in the certificate, so as not to lose days of benefits.
