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The sociomedical report is an essential basis for making decisions about benefits from social insurance providers. As an instrument of medical information, the sociomedical assessment can be based on very different questions, such as the question of ability to work, earning capacity, participation in professional or social life, or the need for medical treatment. It is important to obtain a comprehensive picture of the individual situation in order to create the basis for decisions about benefit entitlements and support measures. The various issues in the respective sociolegal context may require not only the sociomedical report but also other expertise. The international classification of functioning, disability, and health (ICF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) bio-psycho-social model on which it is based enable health problems and their effects to be considered in the context of life and work. The components of functional ability and disability are assessed in their interaction from a sociomedical perspective. What is important is not the diagnosis but rather the person and the individual impact of the health disorders on their activities and participation.In the case of fatigue and burnout, a medical symptom complex with (psychophysical) exhaustion and the resulting attention and concentration disorders are in the focus of the sociomedical assessment. It can be difficult to objectify symptoms and complaints in these diseases, which can lead to particular challenges during assessment, especially when validating complaints., (© 2024. Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Aim of the Study: The present work is intended to give an overview of rehabilitation of patients with post COVID-19 condition covered by the German Pension Insurance in 2021., Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of medical rehabilitation completed in 2021, in which COVID-19 sequelae were coded in first or second place in the uniform discharge report according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems was carried out. The codes U08(.9), U09(.9) and U10(.9) as well as the corresponding codes from 2020 were taken into the evaluation as COVID-19-related diseases. Children's rehabilitation and oncological rehabilitation for pensioners and their relatives were excluded. Statistically, relative and absolute frequencies are given for nominal and ordinal variables, and median and quartiles for continuous, skewed distributed variables., Results: 9,666 rehabilitations with one of the codes mentioned in first or second place remained. 54.8% of the patients were women and 43.2% men. The median age was 54 and 55 years (women/men). In all, 64.4% of the rehabilitations were carried out in the pulmonary medicine department. Owing to somatic indications, almost 50% of these patients in rehabilitation remained in the clinic beyond the regular approval period. The most common other diagnoses were diseases of the respiratory system. In 80.7% of those affected, the treating physicians considered the post-COVID-19 condition-associated symptoms as improved through rehabilitation. Furthermore, employment was subject to social security contributions for 88.0% of these patients, and 30.5% were employed in the fields of health, social affairs, teaching, and education. Of those affected, 63.8% were on sick leave when they were admitted, 63.0% when they were discharged. With regard to performance in the last job or on the general job market, over 90.0% received a prognosis for 6 hours and more., Conclusion: The importance of post-COVID-19 condition in the context of medical rehabilitation increased significantly over the course of 2021. The disease causes long periods of disability. With regard to performance, the available analyses give a positive picture; only 6.5% of those individuals undergoing rehabilitation were assessed as having a reduced capacity to earn of less than 3 hours on the general labor market., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

According to Sixth Book of the Social Code (SGB VI), the German Pension Insurance (GPI) has the mandate to maintain or restore the employability of its insured persons. In order to achieve this goal, the GPI offers its insurees rehabilitation benefits. These are, on the one hand, services for prevention and medical rehabilitation (rehab) and, on the other hand, services for return-to-work or stay-at-work, respectively. In order to fulfill this mandate in the best possible way, in 1990 the GPI introduced instruments of external quality assurance (EQS) with scientific support. The system was firmly established in 1997. Since then, all rehab facilities owned and managed by the GPI are obliged to participate in the EQS system.Over the years, a large number of instruments and procedures have been developed that can map various aspects of quality as structure, process, and outcome. Until 2017, results of the EQS had no influence on the cooperation between the GPI and service providers. With the binding decision of the Federal Executive Board of the GPI in 2017, for the first time the GPI linked the allocation of rehab services for specific patients with the results of EQS. On this basis - confirmed by article 3 of the Digital Pension Overview Act - new paths are being taken. As part of the technically supported selection of a suitable facility for insured persons, quality should systematically and transparently acquire special importance and be consistently taken into account when occupying rehab facilities.This article gives an overview of the development of the proved and tested instruments of rehab quality assurance (QA), their current application, and an outlook on the rehab QA of the future., (© 2022. Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)