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Summary
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Summary
Simplified medical certificates
The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (Inspektionen för social-
försäkringen, ISF) is an independent supervisory agency for the
Swedish social insurance system. The objectives of the agency are
to strengthen compliance with legislation and other statutes, and to
improve the efficiency of the social insurance system through system
supervision and efficiency analysis and evaluation.
The ISF’s work is mainly conducted on a project basis and is
commissioned by the Government or initiated autonomously by the
agency. This report has been commissioned by the Government.
Background
In Sweden, a medical certificate is required when a person has been
on sick leave for more than seven consecutive calendar days. The
Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SSIA) uses the medical certificate
in their work to assess the right to sickness benefit, but also to assess
the need for assistance from the SSIA.
In January 2015, the SSIA decided to implement a process of
simplified medical certificates in sickness cases. The purpose of
simplified medical certificates was to give doctors a possibility to
limit the need for information in some cases. Simply put, it was a
means to move resources from less complicated to more complicated
cases from a social insurance perspective. Not all cases of people on
sick leave require initiatives from the SSIA, this was a way to direct
resources to where most needed. This also meant a reduced
administrative burden in terms of administrative resources, as doctors
would not have to provide the same extensive information in every