The role of the doctor in social medicine using the example of the Federal Employment Agency

Social medicine deals with the interrelationships between health and society-as a cross-sectional subject within medicine and a bridging subject at the interfaces to other specialist disciplines. In the public and within the health system, social medicine still does not receive the attention it should be given, despite to its medical and socioeconomic importance. A significant proportion of social medicine specialists in Germany work as experts for social security providers. Using the example of the Medical Specialist Service ("arztlichen Dienstes", aD) of the German Federal Employment Agency ("Bundesagentur fur Arbeit", BA), the medical tasks in social medicine are outlined. About 350 full-time medical employees nationwide as well as other contracted physicians support the specialists of the employment agencies and job centers to integrate those seeking training, jobs and employees with health restrictions into the labor market or maintaining an existing integration. In each individual case, they assess the extent of the health restrictions, the performance/earning ability, the suitability for training and professions as well as the requirement and type of vocational rehabilitation services. The aD's approximately 500,000 expert opinions each year are not only of far-reaching importance for the BA's affected customers, but also contribute to the responsible, effective, and accurate use of social system resources.