Update on ODH’s Electronic Death Registration System
By Richard Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health
Starting last month, we added new functionality to ODH’s Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) that will help streamline the death reporting process for you.
To let you know how this new EDRS functionality fits into the larger picture of the work we do at the Ohio Department of Health, I should mention that the ODH mission is “To protect and improve the health of all Ohioans by preventing disease, promoting good health and assuring access to quality care.”
We are guided by that mission and by the reality that the healthcare environment is changing and public health must change with it. As part of our commitment to that change and to continuous quality improvement, we are renewing ODH’s focus on its core public health responsibilities—what we call our Public Health Pillars.
ODH’s Public Health Pillars
ODH’s Public Health Pillars include the following:
Enhancing EDRS fits naturally with our regulatory compliance pillar and with our commitment to smart regulation and efficient processes.
As many of you know, EDRS is a key component of Ohio’s vital event registration system. The system functions to register and file all births and deaths that occur in Ohio.
It creates birth and death certificates, and it supplies important data regarding the health of Ohioans to local health departments, hospitals, state agencies and federal agencies. It also enables us to help reduce voting, social security and benefits eligibility fraud.
Benefits of EDRS
Since 2007, the benefits of EDRS have included the following:
E-certification Two-Phase Rollout
Recently, we moved forward with the first phase of our current project to improve workflow in EDRS. In early May, we began the phased roll-out of electronic entry of cause of death and e-certification of cause of death.
There are essentially two major deliverables as a result of this project that are being rolled out in two different timeframes. As a result of Phase 1, Coroner e-certification, all coroners in all 88 Ohio counties will be required to electronically certify death certificates in the EDRS – that is the phase that began in early May. Second, a web-based application can be used by physicians to enter cause of death and certify death certificates so that you will be able to print a physician-certified record from EDRS – that phase is still in development.
Coroner E-certification
Coroner e-certification means that once death certificates are completed and e-certified by the coroner, notification will appear in your EDRS work queue that the certificate is available for printing, signing and filing at the local office.
Remember that one round-trip to the coroner’s office that had still been necessary for death record certification, even after EDRS was revamped in 2007? Now that trip is gone. Given the number of coroner cases there are each year in Ohio, that means approximately 14,000 fewer round trips annually for funeral directors. In addition to not having to drive to coroner offices to retrieve signed certificates, coroner e-certification offers other benefits. Coroners and funeral directors can make changes to the certificate simultaneously. You can see what is pending in the coroner certification queue. In addition, the record can be changed up to the point of filing.
Physician E-Certification
During Phase 2, Physician e-certification, we plan to build on the electronic work flows that have been developed for Coroner e-certification. Physicians, rather than using EDRSwill be able to gain access to a death record via the web-based application and enter cause of death and e-certify using the web product. This is something we have wanted to offer for a long time and we are excited that now the technology exists to start to implement it.
When a physician becomes an e-certifier using the web-based product, all funeral homes will have immediate access to that physician electronically through EDRS. Just as will happen with coroner certification, the web product will send the physician’s e-certified record back to your work queue for printing, signing and filing. We hope to begin a gradual roll out of Phase II during the fall of this year.
Once the web product is developed with collaboration from physicians, delivered, thoroughly tested and placed into production, the Bureau of Vital Statistics will reach out to medical associations and top-volume certifiers. We would like your help in recruiting physicians to generate interest in e-certification. Any physician licensed to practice in Ohio will be able to join.
We are making this roll-out voluntary, but strategic, as we believe that approach to implementation will make this initiative the most user-friendly for all involved. We will also be working with the Ohio State Medical Board to promote this product.
Next Steps
Once we have the early adopters on board, we want to return our attention to a renewed, collaborative effort with you to continue to improve your work flow. We want to explore ways to continue to improve and modernize processes, such as e-signatures for funeral directors and e-filing.
The phases I have outlined in this article are important steps in the journey to enhance EDRS and my staff at the Bureau of Vital Statistics and I look forward to our ongoing collaboration with you as we continue to work to build on them.