Using the GKV health report correctly

How do I get the statutory health insurer's health report — and what do I do with it?

Note: based on German law. Under § 20 SGB V, every statutory health insurer must give companies with at least 20 insured employees a free, anonymized health report showing sick-leave rates, diagnosis groups, and age structure — the key data source for your BGM annual plan.

Structure of a typical GKV health report

Section	Content	Use in BGM	GDPR note
Sick-leave rate	Sick days per 100 insured employees, year-over-year comparison, industry comparison	Benchmark basis for the leadership presentation: 'Where do we stand?'	Aggregated — no conclusions about individuals possible
Diagnosis groups (ICD-10)	Top diagnoses by sick days and frequency (e.g., M = musculoskeletal, F = mental health)	Derive focus areas for measures: high M rate → ergonomics program	Note the insurer's minimum anonymization threshold (usually ≥5 cases per diagnosis)
Age structure analysis	Distribution of sick days by age group	Identify at-risk cohorts for targeted prevention	No personal reference — pure age-group data
Short-term vs. long-term sick leave	Sick leave by duration (<3 days, 3–6 days, >6 weeks)	Long-term sick leave signals a need for reintegration management (BEM); short-term sick leave often has motivational causes	Fully anonymized
Company benchmark	Your sick-leave rate vs. industry, region, GKV average	Prioritization aid: Where is action genuinely needed?	External reference values — no company-specific reference

What is the GKV health report — and who is entitled to it?

Note: this section describes German law. The GKV health report is a free, anonymized analysis of your employees' sick-leave data that the statutory health insurer prepares on request. The legal basis is § 20 SGB V: statutory health insurers are required to support companies in analyzing their health situation — the report is a core instrument of that support.

Companies with at least 20 insured employees at the same insurer are entitled to a report. That's not the total workforce, but only the employees insured with that particular insurer. So in a 50-person company with three different main insurers, it's possible that only one insurer exceeds the threshold and delivers a report — the others don't.

Do you have employees across multiple insurers? Then request a report from each insurer separately. Most large German statutory insurers (AOK, Barmer, TK, DAK, BKK network) deliver the report routinely. Smaller insurers do so on explicit request. You don't need a BGM contract, a consultant, or an ongoing cooperation agreement with the insurer — the report is independent of all that.

How to request the report — concretely and without detours

Your point of contact is always the corporate client advisor or the workplace health promotion contact at the respective insurer, not the service desks for private individuals. Most large statutory insurers have their own 'business' portal or a corporate hotline.

What you need to provide: company name, company registration number (pension insurance number), the period (usually the completed calendar year), and the name of the person responsible for BGM. Optional: the reporting period (some insurers also offer quarterly data).

Processing time: 4–8 weeks. Request the report in January/February for the prior year — that way you'll have the data in time for measure planning in spring.

AOK: 'AOK-Business' corporate portal or direct email to the corporate client advisor
Barmer: 'Workplace Health Management' portal, contact via corporate client service
Techniker Krankenkasse: TK health management team, online form for companies
DAK-Gesundheit: corporate client area with BGM service offering
BKK network: directly through the respective company's BKK insurer

How to read the sick-leave data correctly

The most common mistake when reading the report: looking at your own sick-leave rate in isolation. A rate of 5.2% sounds high — but if the industry average is 6.1%, your company is actually below-average affected. The comparison is what matters.

The three most important comparison dimensions are: (1) time trend — has your sick-leave rate increased over the past three years? (2) industry — how does your value compare to the insurer's industry average? (3) region — are there regional special factors (e.g., flu waves, local particularities)?

Sick days and sick-leave cases tell you different things: many short cases (1–3 days) point to motivational or leadership-related causes. Few long cases (>6 weeks) signal serious illness — and, under German law, a need for reintegration management per § 167 (2) SGB IX. Both require different measures.

From diagnosis group to BGM measure — analysis step by step

The diagnosis groups in ICD-10 format are the strategic heart of the report. They show which conditions cause the most sick days. The most common ones in German companies: M (musculoskeletal, ~25% of all sick days), F (mental health conditions, ~15–17%), J (respiratory diseases), A/B (infectious diseases).

The implication is direct: if the M group dominates → prioritize the ergonomics and movement focus area. High F values → leadership training, psychological risk assessment (under German law, § 5 ArbSchG), stress prevention. High J values in winter → vaccination campaigns, indoor air quality.

Note: this reflects German BGM practice guidance. For your steering committee, the GKV guide (Phase 2, analysis) states: the results from the health report must be evaluated jointly in the steering body — not by HR alone. Participatory evaluation with the works council isn't just politically smart — under § 87 BetrVG it's subject to co-determination for measures aimed at preventing accidents and health damage.

Data protection: what you may and may not do with the data

Note: this section describes German/EU data protection law. The GKV health report contains exclusively anonymized data — that's the condition under which the insurer is allowed to release it (Art. 9 GDPR protects health data as a special category of personal data). You may use the data for workplace measure planning and leadership presentations.

What you may not do: draw conclusions about individuals, or try to combine the data with other internal sources in a way that makes individuals identifiable. Storing it in unsecured systems or passing it to external service providers without a data processing agreement (per Art. 28 GDPR) is also not permitted.

Practical rule for the steering committee presentation: only show aggregate data at the department level if the department has at least 10–15 people. Smaller units can effectively be traced back to individuals — that counts as a data protection violation, even if you don't know the diagnoses yourself.

Combining the GKV report with your own HR data

The GKV report alone doesn't paint a complete picture — it only covers the employees insured with that one insurer and only the sick-leave certificates it received. So combine it with your own anonymized HR analyses: aggregated sick-leave rate (all insurers), reintegration-management case statistics, age structure analysis.

This combination — GKV data plus internal HR aggregates — is the analysis foundation that the GKV guide requires in Phase 2 for measure planning. Without it, no GKV-funded workplace health promotion project under § 20b SGB V is eligible for funding.

Want to combine multiple GKV reports (from different insurers)? That's unproblematic from a data protection standpoint as long as the data stays aggregated at the company level. A cross-insurer picture emerges by adding up the anonymized rates — a practice most BGM coordinators handle in Excel.

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Key takeaways

Note: based on German law. From 20 insured employees at one insurer, you're entitled to a free GKV health report.
Request it in January/February for the prior year — processing takes 4–8 weeks.
The diagnosis groups (ICD-10) show which focus areas you should prioritize.
Always compare: your sick-leave rate alone says little — the industry comparison is what decides.
Evaluation in the steering committee (together with the works council) is a GKV funding prerequisite under § 20b SGB V.
Use only anonymized data — conclusions about individuals violate Art. 9 GDPR.

Frequently asked questions

Starting at how many employees do I get a GKV health report?+

The threshold is 20 insured employees with the same statutory health insurer — not 20 employees overall. If you have, say, 40 employees but only 15 with AOK and 25 with Barmer, only Barmer will deliver a report.

Does the GKV health report cost anything?+

No — under German law (§ 20 SGB V), the report is a free mandatory service of statutory health insurers. You don't need a contract, a consultant, or an ongoing cooperation agreement with the insurer.

How current is the data in the report?+

Most insurers deliver annual reports with roughly 3–6 months' delay. A report for 2025 is typically available in Q2 2026. Some insurers offer quarterly reports — ask your advisor.

May the works council view the GKV health report?+

Yes — and it should. Under German BGM guidance, joint evaluation in the steering committee is a prerequisite for GKV-funded measures. The works council has no separate right to view your contract with the insurer, but it does have co-determination rights over measures derived from the results (§ 87 BetrVG).

What do I do if my insurer doesn't deliver a report?+

Call the corporate client advisor — not the general service line. If the insurer refuses: under German law, the obligation to support you under § 20 SGB V isn't legally enforceable, but in practice all large statutory insurers cooperate. Alternatively, a cooperation agreement with the insurer under § 20b SGB V usually includes the reporting obligation contractually.

Analyze BGM data — without Excel chaos

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Sources

Last updated: 2026-06-24. Not legal or tax advice — have your specific case reviewed by a professional.

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