Digital for Most, Paper for You
The electronic sick note (elektronische Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung, eAU) transformed a German ritual: for statutory patients, practices transmit incapacity data to the sickness fund, employers retrieve it digitally, and the famous yellow slip has all but vanished. Private patients, however, are not part of the eAU system — the digital pipeline runs through the GKV infrastructure. If you are privately insured and employed, the old duties still apply to you, on paper.
Your unchanged obligations as a PKV employee: notify your employer immediately on day one, and deliver a doctor\'s certificate within the deadline your contract or law sets (statutorily: by the fourth calendar day, though many contracts require it from day one). No system does this for you.
How It Works in Practice
| Step | Private patient reality |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Inform the employer that you are unfit for work (phone, email — per company practice) |
| Doctor visit | Ask explicitly for the employer\'s certificate — practices used to eAU sometimes forget private patients need the printout |
| Delivery | Hand or send the paper certificate to the employer within the deadline; photo transmission is accepted by many employers, but the paper original remains the legal standard |
| Extensions | Each follow-on certificate repeats the process seamlessly — gaps jeopardise continued salary payment |
Where Krankentagegeld Enters
Employees receive salary continuation (Entgeltfortzahlung) for six weeks; thereafter, private patients live from their Krankentagegeld tariff rather than GKV sick pay. That policy has its own notification rules: most tariffs require notice of incapacity within days once the benefit phase approaches, plus ongoing medical certification on the insurer\'s forms. Diarise week four of any longer illness as the moment to notify your Krankentagegeld insurer — late notice is the classic, avoidable benefit-reduction trigger. The self-employed, with no employer in the chain, deal with the insurer\'s certification requirements alone from whenever their agreed benefit start (day 4, 15, 22, 43…) nears.
Will Private Patients Get the eAU?
Integration of private insurers into the telematics sick-note flow has been discussed and piloted for years; insurer apps already digitise the patient side (photograph, submit). Until the employer leg is formally digital for PKV, assume paper duties — a question to your insurer\'s app roadmap costs nothing, but never assume transmission happened automatically.
The Bottom Line
The eAU\'s convenience belongs, for now, to statutory patients. As a privately insured employee: report sick immediately, insist on the printed certificate at the practice, deliver it on deadline, and bring your Krankentagegeld insurer into the loop before week six of any serious illness. Four unglamorous habits — and your salary chain never breaks.
Frequently Asked Questions
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