Registration of an electronic sick leave: procedure, conditions, actions of the employer

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The practice of working with electronic certificates of incapacity for work has shown that they have serious advantages over the paper version. More and more medical organizations and insurers are switching to their use. Let's look at the features of the transition to electronic sick leave, as well as the procedure for working with them in 2018.

In 2021, the sick leaver turned 80 years old. On August 14, 1937, the USSR approved the Instruction of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions and the People's Commissariat of Health of the USSR “On the procedure for issuing sick leave certificates to the insured” (approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated August 14, 1937 No. 1382, the document has become invalid). Changes to this document were made very rarely. A global change in the format of sick leave occurred only in 2021, when the Law on Telemedicine and the Introduction of Information Technologies in the Healthcare Sector was signed.

From July 1, 2021, electronic sick leave has equal legal force with paper certificates of incapacity for work (Part 3.2 of Article 59 of the Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 323-FZ, Part 5 of Article 13 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ, Federal Law dated May 1, 2021 No. 86-FZ).

Medical organizations, insurers (employers of insured persons) and insured persons who use electronic sick notes have already appreciated their benefits.

The electronic certificate of incapacity for work made it possible to significantly reduce the flow of documents between the above-mentioned participants in the process, made it transparent, and also eliminated the risk of errors or inaccuracies. All information about sick leave is available to each participant in a unified information system. Data can be easily checked and corrected.

Policyholders do not need to submit paper certificates of incapacity for work to the territorial offices of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia, keep records of them as strict reporting forms and store them in the archive.

It is impossible to lose or falsify an electronic sick leave, as it is stored on government servers and is reliably protected.

Currently, the right to choose the form of a certificate of incapacity for work is given to the insured person. By contacting a medical organization, it can receive a paper certificate of incapacity for work or, by providing written consent, ask the doctor to issue an electronic sick leave (letter from the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia dated November 29, 2017 No. 02-11-09/22-03-4326P).

It is possible that in the future, the assignment and payment of temporary disability and maternity benefits to insured persons on the basis of an electronic document will become mandatory.

Registration of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work is possible if the medical institution, the policyholder and the insured person fulfill a number of conditions.

Let's consider the features of the transition to electronic sick leave, as well as the procedure for working with them in 2021.

Why was a “digital” sick leave needed?

By introducing electronic sick leave, legislators pursued three main goals:

• simplify the interaction between the medical organization, the employer, the sick employee and the Social Insurance Fund;
• reduce the turnover of paper documents;
• increase control over the authenticity of certificates of incapacity for work and make their issuance transparent.

Despite the fact that issuing “digital” sick leave is a legally permitted medical government service, a doctor will be able to issue them only if three mandatory conditions are met:

1. The employee’s employer registered on the official departmental website of the Social Insurance Fund and opened a personal account there.
2. The medical institution connected to a special information system for issuing electronic certificates of incapacity for work.
3. The patient completed and signed consent to issue a digital document.

. The form is current as of January 2021.

If at least one of the above circumstances is absent, the employee will be issued a regular paper sick leave.

. The form is current as of January 2021.

The legislative framework

The issuance of electronic sick leave certificates and their completion in 2021 are regulated by several regulations:

Federal Law No. 86 of 05/01/2017 on amendments to certain legal documents, which put this system into effect (everywhere).

Federal Law No. 255-FZ of December 29, 2006 is the main law on insurance of employees in case of disability, pregnancy and childbirth. Article 13 is devoted to the service for issuing sick leave electronically.

Government Decree No. 1567 of December 16, 2017, which approved the instructions for interaction between the policyholder (employer), the insurer (FSS) and the medical institution.

Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 624n dated June 29, 2011 on the procedure for issuing sick leave.

Electronic certificate of incapacity for work: first results of the reform

A little more than six months ago, on July 1, 2021, Federal Law No. 86-FZ of May 1, 2017 came into force, according to which medical institutions, along with traditional paper certificates of incapacity for work, began to issue “electronic sick leave.” Tatyana Viktorovna Lototskaya, head of the department for organizing insurance payments of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, spoke about the first results of the introduction of electronic certificates of incapacity for work and their main advantages for citizens and employers.

ConsultantPlus: How many electronic certificates of incapacity for work have been issued to date? Compared to the total volume of paper sick leave, is this a lot or a little?

Tatyana Viktorovna Lototskaya:

As of March 30, 2021, more than 781 thousand electronic certificates of incapacity for work have been generated in 5 thousand medical organizations in the Russian Federation. Of the total number of sick leave issued throughout the country, the share of electronic certificates of incapacity for work is about 2.46%. We can say that this is a small indicator, but in some regions - leaders in the formation of electronic certificates of incapacity for work, their share of the total number of sick leave issued exceeds 45 - 60%. Thus, in the Belgorod region, as of March 30, 2021, 95,550 were issued in electronic form, in the Lipetsk region - 56,741, and in the Kemerovo region - 45,018. Moreover, such sick leave is relevant not only for large cities or regional centers. For example, the 700,000th electronic sheet was issued in the village of Raevsky in the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the 750,000th in the city of Sayansk, Irkutsk Region.

It is worth noting that at the end of 2021, the total number of electronic slips issued was only 240 thousand, and in January - March 2021 their number more than tripled. Thus, the use of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work is expanding throughout the Russian Federation and the indicators of its demand are increasing. The number of policyholders who are ready to participate in the formation of electronic certificates of incapacity for work is constantly growing. Currently there are more than 49 thousand of them throughout the country. The share of insured people working in these organizations is almost 20% of all insured people in Russia. And it's not just big business. Issuing electronic slips from small businesses is also quite in demand. This is evidenced by the data presented in the figure.

ConsultantPlus: How many medical institutions have already connected to the single integrated information system “Sotsstrakh”, in which “electronic sick leave” is generated? Can non-state private clinics connect to this system?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

All medical organizations that have a license for medical activities, including work (services) for the examination of temporary disability, have the right to participate in the formation of electronic certificates of incapacity for work. That is, both state and non-state medical organizations can provide citizens with the opportunity to receive such sheets.

However, according to Federal Law dated May 1, 2017 N 86-FZ, an electronic certificate of incapacity for work is generated with the written consent of the insured person, provided that the policyholder and the medical organization are participants in the information exchange system for the purpose of its formation. At the same time, information sent by a medical organization to the unified integrated information system “Sotsstrakh” must be signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature of the doctor, and in cases considered by a medical commission, with an enhanced qualified electronic signature of the chairman of the medical commission.

Thus, in order for a medical organization licensed to carry out work (services) on the examination of temporary disability to be able to ensure the implementation of the rights of citizens to receive an electronic certificate, it must be technically ready for such a process, i.e. have access to the Internet, appropriate qualified electronic signatures and use software that allows information interaction for its formation.

It should be noted that in order to participate in the process of generating electronic certificates of incapacity for work, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation provides medical organizations with free automated workplace software “Healthcare facilities”, available for download on the official website of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia https://cabinets.fss.ru/eln.html. This site also contains all the necessary technological information, including specifications for finalizing your own software.

ConsultantPlus: If we talk about specific regions, which of them turned out to be leaders in the use of “electronic sick leave”?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

An electronic certificate of incapacity for work is generated in all 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The number of generated electronic certificates of incapacity for work depends on many factors, one of which is the simultaneous readiness of the medical organization providing medical care and the specific employer of the insured citizen.

The territorial characteristics of each region and the level of coverage of the Internet, which is a means of information interaction, also influence. Today, the leaders in terms of the volume of generated electronic leaflets are the Belgorod, Lipetsk, Kemerovo regions, the Republic of Mordovia, the Chuvash Republic and the Moscow region.

Thus, every day one can observe changes in the leading positions in this area: each region strives to keep up with the times and develop in the field of information technology. If at the beginning of December 2021 about 5,000 electronic leaflets were generated per day on the territory of the Russian Federation, then by March 2018 this figure had already reached about 11 thousand per day. Thus, the use of new technologies in the formation of electronic certificates of incapacity for work is more than in demand, and this is the merit of each of the 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

ConsultantPlus: Should a patient find out in advance from his employer whether he accepts “electronic sick leave”, or can a medical institution check this information when working with the Social Insurance Unified Insurance System?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

In order for an employee to receive temporary disability or maternity benefits on the basis of a certificate of incapacity for work issued in electronic form, in addition to the technical readiness of the medical organization, the employer must also have the technical ability to accept and process the generated electronic certificate of incapacity for work. In this case, the policyholder must inform its employees about their readiness for their formation. The employee has the right to independently check with the personnel or accounting department of his employer about the possibility of accepting them for payment.

In addition, to participate in the formation of these sheets and exercise the rights of their employees to receive benefits based on issued electronic certificates of incapacity for work, policyholders can use the free automated workplace software “Preparing calculations for the Social Insurance Fund”, available for download on the official website of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia https://cabinets .fss.ru/eln.html. This site contains all the necessary technological information, including specifications for finalizing your own software.

To work with electronic certificates of incapacity for work, policyholders can use the policyholder’s personal account located on the Internet at https://cabinets.fss.ru/insurer/. To obtain information about electronic certificates of incapacity for work in the personal account, users are identified and authenticated through the Unified Identification and Authentication System (USIA).

ConsultantPlus: What to do if “electronic sick leave” is issued, but the employer asks for a paper sheet?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

From July 1, 2021, certificates of incapacity for work issued on paper and generated in the form of an electronic document are equivalent and, at the request of the patient, any of the specified forms of certificate can be issued by a medical organization. Moreover, it is issued in the form of an electronic document only with the written consent of the insured person. If the employer is technically unprepared to generate electronic slips, employees are given them on paper.

If a medical organization, at the request of the patient, has already generated an electronic sheet, then in order to exercise the rights of its employees to timely receipt of benefits, the employer has the opportunity to download a free one on the official website of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation (https://cabinets.fss.ru/eln.html) automated workplace software “Preparation of calculations for the Social Insurance Fund” and with its help obtain an electronic certificate of incapacity for work. In addition, many other software products (for example, software and Parus) have been modified by manufacturers and have the ability to work with electronic sheets.

ConsultantPlus: Do you recommend organizations to print and store “electronic sick leave” along with traditional strict reporting forms?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

Electronic certificates of incapacity for work are a document that has legal force, and in accordance with Federal Law dated May 1, 2017 N 86-FZ, they are generated and stored in the information system of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation “Unified Integrated Information System “Sotsstrakh”. Thus, the employer does not need to print out and keep a copy of it.

ConsultantPlus: Does the Social Insurance Fund plan to eventually completely abandon paper certificates of incapacity for work and provide for fines for refusal to use “electronic sick leave”?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

Currently, electronic certificates of incapacity for work are used on a par with certificates of incapacity for work on paper. Both forms of the sheet are the basis for the assignment and payment of benefits to insured persons. If the employer is technically ready to work with electronic sheets, refusal to accept this form of sheet from the employee is a violation of his rights.

Still, it is worth noting that according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, there are currently no requirements to switch only to the electronic form of the document. However, for participants in information interaction on the formation of a document in electronic form, there are many advantages, and it is they who primarily encourage employers to choose electronic between the two forms.

ConsultantPlus: How reliable is the security system of the Social Insurance Unified Insurance System? Can a patient be sure that his personal data and information about the diagnosis will not fall into the wrong hands?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

The information system of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation provides all the necessary conditions for protecting information and maintaining its confidentiality in accordance with the requirements of legislation in the field of information technology. In this case, information about the patient’s diagnosis from the medical organization that generated the electronic certificate of incapacity for work is not provided to the employer. Third parties do not have access to it.

ConsultantPlus: One of the reasons for the introduction of electronic sick leave certificates is the fight against fake sick leave, since the electronic system almost completely eliminates the risk of abuse. How serious is the problem with fakes now? Are there fewer of them?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

This specifically applies to paper-based certificates of incapacity for work. Nowadays, there are quite often cases of selling sick leave - advertisements, leaflets, Internet sites offering to issue them easily and quickly. The implementation of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work copes well with solving this problem.

First of all, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation maintains a single database in which each electronic certificate of incapacity for work is displayed from the moment it is “opened” in a medical organization. In addition, it is impossible to issue a fake electronic slip, since the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation controls any actions with it. The employer can be confident of its authenticity when the employee presents it for payment.

ConsultantPlus: And the last question. Will the current regulatory framework governing issues related to temporary disability change in 2021? For example, will changes be made to the form of the certificate of incapacity for work?

Tatyana Viktorovna:

Undoubtedly, any innovations at the legislative level always entail the creation of relevant by-laws and the bringing of already existing normative legal acts into compliance with federal law. Currently, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation is working to approve the Regulations on information interaction in order to create an electronic certificate of incapacity for work, which provides a description of the operational and technological features of interaction with medical organizations, medical and social examination institutions and policyholders.

In addition, together with the Ministry of Labor of Russia and the Ministry of Health of Russia, changes are being prepared to the Procedure for issuing sheets, approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated June 29, 2011 N 624n, which, along with the procedure for issuing and filling out sheets on paper, will also provide for the procedure for generating their electronic versions. It is impossible to say unequivocally that there is no need to make changes to the form of a certificate of incapacity for work. Its form has not changed since 2011. Perhaps, as part of improving the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of compulsory social insurance, something will have to be changed.

ConsultantPlus: Tatyana Viktorovna, thank you for participating in our online interview.

The interview was prepared by correspondent A. Epifanova Photo - T. Tveretsky

Read the material at the link: https://www.consultant.ru/law/interview/lototskaya/

How it works

A medical institution opens an electronic hospital document according to the following scheme:

1. An employee, having visited a doctor’s office, informs him of his desire to take out an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (in short – ESL). At the same time he:
   informs the doctor about the participation of the employer-insurer in the information exchange of information necessary for the formation of “digital” sick leave;
2. fills out and signs an application for consent to issue a document in electronic form;
3. presents SNILS or reports its number.
4. The doctor sends an online request to the information system (Social Insurance) to assign a number to the document. Having received it, the health worker, using specially developed software, fills out the ELN. The sick leave number is provided to the insured person (patient).
5. Having completed the steps to issue an electronic sick leave, the doctor certifies it with a digital personal signature.
6. The medical institution certifies the generated document via the network with its own signature and sends it to Social Insurance.

If an employee’s illness has been prolonged and a certificate of incapacity for work needs to be extended, it is supplemented with new entries as necessary. After the sick leave is closed, a corresponding entry is made in the ENL, the document is certified with the digital signature of the doctor and the clinic, and then sent to Social Insurance.

This service is provided to patients of medical organizations free of charge. All information is transmitted through special secure channels, which are considered inaccessible to prying eyes or data correction by an outsider.

Actions of HR officers upon receipt of ELN

Having learned the number of the electronic certificate of incapacity for work, the employee reports it to the employer. Using it and the SNILS number of the employee himself, HR officers or accountants electronically request sick leave data from the Social Insurance Fund. For it to be displayed on the screen, you need to click on the “GET LN” button.

Important note! The employer gains access to the employee's digital sick leave certificate only after the document is closed by the medical organization. He will not be able to view the current ELN.

When the employer's representative receives the electronic document, he enters the missing information into it and corrects it if something is filled out incorrectly (he sees a message about this inside the system). For him, the program has an eloquent tab: “To be filled out by the employer.” In particular, he adds:

• name of the company where the insured person works;
• the part-time employee or main employee is the owner, a citizen who has been issued sick leave;
• his TIN;
• surnames with initials - the head of the company and the chief accountant;
• the average salary of the insured employee and his length of service;
• period of incapacity;
• the date he started work, and other information.

Based on the entered data, the benefit due to the employee due to disability is automatically calculated by the program. The employee receives payment for sick leave, and data on its amount is reported to the insurer - to the Social Insurance Fund.

Incorrectly paid benefits will be required to be returned

The FSS has the right to check the documents provided even after the payment of the benefit itself. If the fund considers that the documents turned out to be unreliable, it has the right to demand a return of money, both from the employee and from his employer. If the mistakenly paid benefit amounts to more than 3,000 rubles, the fund may go to court.

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Advantages and disadvantages of electronic registration

On the one hand, the reduction of paperwork and the high degree of reliability of the electronic document are its undeniable advantages over paper counterparts. However, this method still has many disadvantages.

Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of issuing sick leaves in electronic form

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