The Ministry of Health will once again try to refer frequently ill Russians to a medical commission

The procedure for conducting an examination of temporary disability was approved by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation by order No. 195n dated April 11, 2025. The regulations, which will come into force on September 1, 2025, will be valid until the same date in 2031.

The proposed amendments propose obliging doctors to analyze all sick leave certificates issued over six months to patients who were recognized as incapacitated more than four times during that period. Exceptions will be cases of caring for a sick family member, receiving medical care for socially significant diseases, and medical care for patients on dialysis.

The explanatory note states that the changes should help treating physicians, when multiple sick leave certificates are issued, to identify the causes of long-term disability and take the necessary measures.

The Ministry of Health proposes that if a citizen has more than four cases of disability in six months, the relevant data should be transferred to a medical commission. The attending physician must provide such information within three days of the patient's request. The medical commission will have to study the medical documentation to determine the ability of such citizens to work.

The regulator presented the first version of the draft order to update the Procedure for conducting an examination of temporary disability in November 2024. The document noted that a doctor (as well as a paramedic or dentist) must analyze previously generated sick leave certificates for six months preceding the date of the actual application, and if there are more than four sick leaves, refer it to a medical commission.

The initiative was criticized. In February 2025, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya asked the head of the Russian Ministry of Health Mikhail Murashko to revise the draft document. According to Yarovaya, the new Procedure did not take into account a number of situations and required "fine tuning."

The department sent the second version of the document to the National Medical Chamber for discussion in April 2025. At that time, the points that caused controversy were excluded.