3 proposals to change the regulation of medical examination of employees

At the beginning of May, the Chamber approached the Ministry of Social Affairs with several proposals to make the requirements related to the medical examination of employees more flexible and transparent for both the employer and the employee.  

General practitioners could be given the opportunity to carry out medical examinations
Firstly, based on the feedback received from companies, we proposed again to the Ministry to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act so that in certain cases the employer could send his employee to the employee's general practitioner for a medical examination. This could take place as part of a regular visit to the general practitioner. In this case, the employer should not use the service of an occupational health doctor every time.  

According to the Chamber's proposal, this could be the case, in particular, for office workers with lower and predictable workplace risk factors. In such a situation, the general practitioner could also be able to carry out a medical examination and give recommendations to the employees, while also knowing the employee's previous health history and behaviour. If it turns out that the employee needs more thorough analyses, for example, a more thorough eye examination, then the general practitioner can send the employee to the occupational health doctor.  

Passing a medical examination at a general practitioner is also more reasonable and convenient for employees, as general practitioners are more accessible compared to occupational health doctors. This is especially important in rural areas. In addition, the general practitioner is also visited in connection with everyday health problems, which is why it would be more expedient for the employee to perform an examination at their general practitioner’s office without having to go specifically to an occupational health doctor appointment.

The volume of health examinations should be reduced by the number of recent health services
We have received questions from both employers and employees as to why a full medical examination should be carried out in a situation where the employee has recently been subjected to a very thorough general health audit. For example, if an employer orders for an employee a thorough health audit, the results of which show that the employee has no health problems, why, for example, does the same employee have to undergo a full medical examination a month later, which includes much of the same services as in the previous health audit. In the opinion of the Chamber, such duplication unreasonably burdens the health care sector and leads to inefficient use of resources. 

In order to improve the situation, we made a proposal to the Ministry of Social Affairs to amend the regulation of medical examinations in such a way that if an employee has recently received a health service, for example, in the last 6 months, which is also included in the medical examination carried out by an occupational health doctor, then the employer is not obliged to re-order the same service during the medical examination if the previous study has not highlighted any health problems. For example, if an employee has recently undergone thorough blood tests, heart examinations and eye examinations and they did not identify any problems, then according to the proposal of the Chamber, these procedures would not need to be performed again in a medical examination carried out by an occupational health doctor.  

A minimum list of services included in the medical examination must be established

The Chamber has received feedback from companies that they do not always understand the extent to which they have to purchase a medical examination service from an occupational health service provider. As occupational health care service providers offer different packages and often the packages of different occupational health care service providers are not well comparable to each other, employers have wondered, for example, whether the medical examination package covers the minimum requirements of the legislation or whether it already includes additional services that, according to the legislation, the employer is not obliged to order. 

 

In order to make the medical examination service transparent for both the employer and the employee, we proposed to add to the legislation a list of health care services which must be included as a minimum in the medical examination. Such amendment would provide a clear overview of which services included in the medical examination are minimum requirements and which services can be additionally ordered by the employer on a voluntary basis. 

The Chamber considers it very positive if employers order a more thorough medical examination, but at the same time the medical examination service must be transparent and the employer must also be able to select and order a medical examination that meets only the minimum requirements of the legislation.