Germany is introducing an additional preventive medical examination for children aged nine to ten as a statutory health insurance benefit. The Federal Joint Committee (Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss), the body made up of health insurers, doctors and hospitals, adopted the relevant requirements on Thursday, as the committee announced in Berlin. The so-called U10 is intended to close the gap between the early childhood screening examinations U1 to U9 and the later youth health check-up J1 for 13- to 14-year-olds.
The additional check-up is to focus on issues such as excess weight, digital media consumption and psychological abnormalities. If paediatricians notice any such signs, they are to counsel the children and their parents.
Studies point to particular risks for children in this age group specifically, the Federal Joint Committee explained. Excessive mobile phone and computer use could disrupt language development and the ability to concentrate, while a lack of physical activity encourages excess weight and the illnesses associated with it.
Early detection offerings such as the U10 and U11 are already provided by individual health insurers as voluntary supplementary services for their members. Until now, however, they have not been a standard statutory insurance benefit. Part of the U10 is a standardised questionnaire that parents are to complete before the examination. In addition, health risks and pre-existing conditions within the family are to be surveyed. A further focus is vaccination counselling, for instance on the prevention of HPV infections.
It may still take some time before paediatricians can offer the examination as an insurance-covered service. The Federal Ministry of Health has yet to review the decision, and details of a uniform fee structure still have to be settled. According to the Federal Joint Committee, the responsible valuation body has up to six months to do so.
The existing mandatory child screening examinations U1 to U9 end at around the age of five and are documented in the so-called Yellow Booklet (Gelbes Heft), which parents are handed after the birth of a child. Only at the age of 13 to 14 does the J1 youth health examination follow. Under Thursday's committee decision, the J1 is also to be documented in the Yellow Booklet in future.
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