INSS intends to exchange expertise for online certificate to grant “sickness benefit”

The National Social Security Institute (INSS) intends to replace in-person medical expertise with online certificates in all requests for granting benefits due to temporary incapacity, the former sickness benefit. The body will expand the use of Atestmed, a system that replaces expertise with documentary analysis, in cases of short-term benefits, up to 180 days.

In a note, on the 14th, the INSS highlighted that, last year alone, 627,620 temporary disability benefits were granted via Atestmed across the country. The month of December recorded the highest number of concessions with 113,498 requests granted using the tool.

The change in the form of analysis for the temporary incapacity benefit was confirmed by the president of the INSS, Alessandro Stefanutto, in an interview released this Tuesday (5) by the Estadão. “Now we are going to start moving towards the full use of Atestmed. We reached an average usage of 45% and I want to reach 100%… The deadline I agreed on was April 30th, but I will bring it forward”, stated Stefanutto.

Atestmed began to be used during the pandemic, but was reformulated by the INSS and relaunched in July 2023. “The benefits released via Atestmed, which relate to sickness benefit and, in most cases, are not highly complex, contribute for medical experts to examine highly complex cases. Atestmed is not the expert’s enemy, it is an ally and benefits all Brazilians”, highlighted Stefanutto, in the organization’s statement.

Impact on queue and costs

In December last year, the Average Grant Time (TMC) for “sickness benefit” was 26 days. Through the system, the insured can submit the application and forward the documents through the Meu INSS application or take them to the agency itself. Details on how to correctly forward documents through Atestmed are available on the INSS website, here.

The president of INSS highlighted that using the system reduces the so-called “delay cost” in simpler cases. According to Stefanutto, the use of Atestmed generated savings of almost R$1 billion last year. The Ministry of Social Security estimates savings of R$5.6 billion with the tool by 2024.

“The important thing is to generate savings through intelligent fiscal efforts: serving people better and spending less. Atestmed proved to be a tool that delivered benefits faster and cost less. We cannot make fiscal efforts by taking away rights”, Stefanutto pointed out in an interview with Estadão.

Alternatives for audiences “excluded from digital”

Stefanutto stated that the INSS is evaluating increasing the channels for delivering certificates to policyholders, without forgetting the portion of society that does not have digital access. “There is an audience that is excluded from digital. So, we are using alternative channels with partners, so that the insured who will no longer have an inspection appointment can have the intelligence service facilitated,” she said.

Therefore, the INSS Service Center, 135, will start opening applications on Atestmed so that policyholders can simply deliver the documentation to the agencies. In addition, the agency negotiates a partnership with the Post Office, to open orders and deliver documents to agencies.

Queue for social security benefits

Currently, the queue for social security benefits was 46 days long in December 2023. In January of this year, the Minister of Social Security, Carlos Lupi, stated that the INSS queue “will never end”, but the goal is to reduce the Waiting time for 30 days. The legal deadline for analyzing benefits is 45 days.

Also in January, the National Association of Medical Experts (ANMP) criticized the failure to fulfill the promise made by Lupi about clearing the INSS queue by the end of last year. In a note, the ANMP pointed out that the waiting list for assistance through the INSS is expected to reach 2 million pending applications in 2024, with no public budget to cover the expenses of the demand.