About EDRS
Background
Vermont has received funding from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to implement its EDRS. In doing so, we join over 40 states and municipalities that are either in the development process or have already implemented their own electronic death registration systems. It is anticipated that with the introduction of this application and slight changes to the reporting process, most Vermont deaths will be reported to SSA within 5 days of the event, and within 24 hours of information being received by Vital Records Office. Currently this process takes an average of 38 days.
Electronic registration systems are not new to the State of Vermont. The Vermont Department of Health has been using a similar system for reporting births since July 2005. Moving to an electronic system for reporting deaths is expected to improve the process as well as the quality and timeliness of data. In addition, developing the EDRS at this time will prepare the State to comply with anticipated federal changes that will require all states to electronically register births and deaths.
Why is Death Reporting Important?
Death certificates represent more than records of death:
- They are official documents necessary to obtain burial-transit and cremation permits, survivor benefits, and to provide closure for families.
- They are used to verify fact-of-death information with the Social Security Administration to protect against fraud.
- Death certificates are also a source of critical information regarding the cause and circumstances of a death.
- Public health planners rely on this data to address issues and create programs to protect the health and welfare of our population, locally, nationally and even internationally.
Benefits of an Electronic Death Registration System
While death certificates can provide a wealth of information, the traditional paper process presents some challenges. Because reporting a death is a multi-step process involving a number of participants, the process can be labor intensive and often slow. This can cause delays for those facilitating burial and other final arrangements and reduces the usefulness of information for public health planning. Another challenge of paper reporting is that fields are often left incomplete or contain inappropriate information that is only detected after a record has been registered.
In an effort to address these and other issues, the electronic system being developed in Vermont:
- Allows on-line collaboration among EDRS users, including funeral directors, physicians, medical examiners and town clerks.
- Eliminates the need for funeral directors and physicians to meet to obtain signatures.
- Streamlines burial-transit and cremation permitting (the VDH intends to incorporate features to allow printing of burial transit permits from the EDRS).
- Provides a means for funeral directors to request certified copies of the death certificate from town clerks on line at the time of registration.
- Provides for the completion and filing of a death record that is partially electronic and partially paper if all participants are not on-line.
- Contains checks to improve accuracy and consistency of death certificate data, including cause of death reporting, which will aid in public health planning. These checks will also assist users in identification of deaths that should be referred to the medical examiner.
- Incorporates immediate Social Security Number verification and fact of death reporting to the Social Security Administration to facilitate timely ending of benefits and prevention of fraud.
- Enhances opportunities to monitor infectious diseases and potential bioterrorism events as mortality data will be available to the Department of Health within five days of a death.
- Prepares Vermont to comply with anticipated federal regulations which are expected to require states to have electronic birth and death registration, birth and death reporting within five days of the event, and specific fraud prevention controls.
Additional Resources
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