How to Fill Out and Submit the SSS Medical Certificate (Form MMD-102)

SSS Form MMD-102 is the Medical Certificate that the Philippine Social Security System requires when you file a sickness or disability benefit claim. Your attending physician fills out most of it, documenting the diagnosis, clinical history, and physical findings that show your condition kept you from working. You can download the form from the SSS website, where it is also listed as Med 01688, or pick up a printed copy at any SSS branch office.

What the Form Is For

The MMD-102 anchors two separate benefit tracks. For sickness benefits, you attach it to your notification or application to prove that a legitimate illness or injury prevented you from earning income. Without a properly completed Medical Certificate, the SSS will not process a sickness claim no matter how many lab results or hospital records you provide.

For disability benefits, the form is submitted alongside a separate Disability Claim Application (DisCA) to document a permanent loss of function. One rule matters especially here: your attending physician must accomplish the MMD-102 within six months of the date you file your disability claim.¹ An older certificate will not carry a disability application.

Who Fills Out Which Part

The form is split between your information and your physician’s clinical documentation. You handle the employee general data section at the top. Your doctor handles everything else. Use black ink and write legibly; the SSS instructions specify black ink only.

Employee General Data

The top section asks for your name (last, first, middle initial), age, sex, civil status, and occupation.² Fill this in before the appointment so your physician can concentrate on the clinical sections.

Clinical History and Physical Findings

Your attending physician completes the section labeled “Brief Clinical History and Present Physical Findings,” which is where the substance of the form lives.² The doctor writes the complete diagnosis, a summary of your present illness, and what the physical examination revealed. The SSS sickness benefit page requires that this section include:

The complete diagnosis, meaning the specific medical condition rather than a vague description of symptoms.
The recommended number of days of sick leave, including recuperation time, since the SSS uses this figure to evaluate how many days of benefit to approve.
The clinic address and contact number, so the SSS medical evaluation team can verify the certification if needed.
The physician’s license number, written legibly, to confirm the doctor is authorized to practice.³

If the space on the form is insufficient, the form itself notes you can attach an extra sheet. The physician then signs over their printed name and enters the date of accomplishment.² The signature block carries a warranty statement in which the doctor certifies they have thoroughly examined you and that everything on the form is true and correct. A missing signature or an illegible license number is one of the fastest ways to have a claim kicked back.

Documents You File With the Form

The Medical Certificate alone is not enough. You need to back it up with clinical evidence that matches the diagnosis your doctor wrote on the form.

For a Sickness Claim

At minimum, submit the completed MMD-102 plus certified true copies of supporting medical documents. For prolonged confinement or more complex conditions, the SSS expects laboratory results, X-ray reports, ECG tracings, and other diagnostic results, along with operating room or clinical records that support the diagnosis.³ The SSS Medical Specialist reviewing the claim can also request additional records beyond what you initially submit.

If the sickness or injury happened abroad, all foreign-language documents must include an English translation authenticated by the Philippine Embassy or Consulate, or notarized by a notary public in the host country.³

Self-employed and voluntary members who were previously employed face extra requirements depending on when the confinement falls relative to their separation date. If confinement falls within the period of employment, you need a certificate of separation stating no advance payment was granted. If your former company has dissolved or you left under strained circumstances, a notarized Affidavit of Undertaking replaces the employer certificate.³

For a Disability Claim

Disability claims require a heavier package. Beyond the Medical Certificate and the DisCA form, you submit a Photo and Signature Form (provided at the SSS branch for initial claims), certified true copies of your supporting medical records, and a valid government-issued ID such as a UMID card, passport, driver’s license, or National ID.¹

The specific clinical evidence depends on the condition. Some examples from the SSS requirements:

Fracture: certified copy of the consultation record, hospital abstract, operation record, or X-ray of the affected part.
Stroke: consultation record or hospital abstract, plus a recent CT scan or MRI result.
Heart disease: consultation or hospital records, plus a recent ECG tracing or 2D echo result.
Mental illness: a recent and complete psychiatric evaluation report, plus hospital abstract if confined.
Cancer: hospital abstract or operation record, plus histopathologic result and CT scan or MRI if available.¹

Across every disability type the pattern is the same: the SSS wants objective diagnostic evidence that matches the claimed condition, not just the physician’s written opinion on the Medical Certificate. Submitting the wrong type of evidence (an X-ray when a CT scan is expected, for instance) will stall the evaluation.

Notification Deadlines You Cannot Miss

The best-filled Medical Certificate will not save a claim that arrives late. The notification rules differ depending on whether you were confined at home or in a hospital.

Home Confinement

If you are an employed member recovering at home, notify your employer within five calendar days after the start of confinement. Your employer then has another five calendar days from receiving your notice to notify the SSS.³ Self-employed, voluntary, and OFW members skip the employer step and notify the SSS directly within the same five-day window.

Hospital Confinement

Hospital confinement is more forgiving. The employee does not need to separately notify the employer, since the hospital stay itself serves as evidence. The employer must then notify the SSS within one year from the date of hospital discharge.³ Self-employed and voluntary members also get one year from discharge to file.

If You Notify Late

Late notification does not automatically kill your claim, but it costs you days of coverage. Under Republic Act 11199, if you notify the SSS beyond the five-day period, your confinement is deemed to have started no earlier than the fifth day immediately before the date of notification.⁴ So if you got sick on the 1st but did not notify until the 15th, the SSS treats confinement as starting on the 10th at the earliest, and the first nine days of benefits are lost. The SSS puts it plainly on its own page: failure to observe the notification rule is a ground for reduction or denial of the claim.³

One boundary worth flagging: the sickness track has an eligibility floor of at least three monthly SSS contributions paid within the twelve-month period immediately before the semester of your sickness or injury,³ and employed members must first exhaust their employer-provided sick leave with full pay before sickness benefits kick in.⁴ The exhaustion rule does not apply to self-employed, voluntary, or OFW members.

How to Submit the Completed Form

Nearly all standard claims now go through the My.SSS online portal. The exact route depends on your membership type.

If You Are Employed

Hand the completed Medical Certificate and supporting medical documents to your employer. Your employer submits the sickness notification through its own My.SSS account. The SSS has stated that over-the-counter submission of documents is no longer necessary for employer-filed notifications.³

Your employer pays the sickness benefit to you in advance and then applies to the SSS for reimbursement through the Sickness Benefit Reimbursement Application (SBRA). When the employer files the SBRA, the SSS emails you asking you to confirm you actually received the advance payment. You have seven working days from that email to confirm through the link or through your own My.SSS account. If you fail to confirm or deny receipt within that window, the employer’s reimbursement claim gets rejected.³

If You Are Self-Employed, Voluntary, OFW, or Separated

File directly through your own My.SSS account:

Log in and go to the “Benefits” tab, then select “Sickness Benefit.”
Fill out the online application form and click “Next.”
Upload the Medical Certificate, lab results, and other supporting records, then click “Next.”
Review everything, tick the certification box confirming that all information is true and correct, and click “Next.”
Save the transaction number the system displays on the confirmation screen. Your application goes to the Medical Evaluation Center, and results come by email.³

Claims That Must Be Filed in Person

A few claim types are exempt from online filing and must be submitted over the counter at an SSS branch or Foreign Representative Office: denied claims being reconsidered for payment, unclaimed benefits of a deceased member, and unclaimed reimbursements from inactive or closed employers.³

If Your Claim Is Denied

If the SSS denies your sickness or disability claim, you can appeal to the Social Security Commission. You have fifteen days from receiving the denial notice to perfect the appeal by filing a Notice of Appeal with the SSS office that issued the decision, paying a 500-peso appeal fee, and submitting an Appeal Memorandum that lays out your grounds and supporting arguments.⁵

Once the appeal is perfected, the SSS office has five days to transmit the full case record to the Commission Secretary, and the Commission has thirty days from the date the case is submitted for resolution to issue its decision. Filing the appeal pauses execution of the original denial unless the Commission orders otherwise. Miss the fifteen-day window and the denial becomes final.⁵

1
Social Security System. Disability Benefit
2
Social Security System. SSS Medical Certificate Form MMD-102
3
Social Security System. Sickness Benefit
4
Lawphil. Republic Act No. 11199 – Social Security Act of 2018
5
Social Security System. The 2016 Rules of Procedure of the Social Security Commission