JUNE/JULY  2016 EDITION
FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK

You asked and we’re answering, straight from the director’s desk!  

Q. Why can’t I register deaths for another county?  

A. Per the code, each death must be registered in the county in which it occurred.   Each county is accountable and responsible for entering its own death records in an expeditious and effective manner.

  • In Georgia, the average cycle time to register a death is currently 21 days from the date of event to the date of registration at the local office.
  • We track the monthly volume of every county relative to the number and cycle time of every death registered. We can also track the number of days that a death record is in the hands of the funeral home, the physician, and the local county office.
  • Our goal is to get GAVERS participation from the 1600 physicians who certify 80% of the death records.
  • Our goal is to get the death record registered in single digit days.

Q. Who is responsible for entering long form death records and “drop to paper” death records?

A. The local county vital records registrar is responsible for entering long form death records and quasi-electronic records that have been started in GAVERS and dropped to paper.

Ninety percent of our funeral homes are on GAVERS, so the record has been started in the system.

Only 20% of our physicians are on GAVERS, so the majority still certify “on paper”, and the funeral home will bring that to you to enter into the system.

THE STATE OFFICE ANNOUNCES ITS FOURTH DEPUTY DIRECTOR!
State Registrar Donna Moore is very pleased to announce Christopher Harrison as Deputy Director for Data Integrity & Analytics! Chris has served the State Office of Vital Records for the past three years, first as Data Quality Liaison, and then as Data Integrity & Reporting Manager. Prior to that, he worked 10 years for the University of Michigan Health System serving in several areas including clinical laboratory services, infection prevention, occupational health, and data management. Chris has a Master’s of Public Health from the University of Michigan with a concentration in epidemiology. In his new role, Chris will oversee data integrity and reporting, systems support, and program metrics and process improvements to electronic systems, reporting, and data collection.
CONSTITUENTS' CORNER

SAFE TO SLEEP CAMPAIGN

The Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign officially launched statewide on Thursday, May 19, 2016! The campaign focuses on protecting babies from sleep related infant deaths. In solidarity, all 77 birthing hospitals have pledged to model safe sleep behaviors and to provide all new mothers an infant gown that reads, “This Side Up”, messaging that babies sleep safest on their backs; a Safe to Sleep book, reminding care takers of best sleep practices; and travel bassinets to Medicaid and uninsured parents for babies that weigh up to 15 pounds or that are 4 to 6 months.

The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), or Medicaid agency, is willing to assist in sustaining this program with the documentation of the distribution of these bassinets. As standard practice, birth clerks already record and enter information for every birth certificate into GAVERS. To further assist with tracking and evaluating the success of the campaign, we have added 5 new fields, shown in the screenshot above, to the GAVERS birth worksheet for birth clerks to complete.

The following Safe to Sleep question flow provides a cursory explanation that is helpful for completing each field.
  1. Did mother receive a Safe to Sleep Travel Bassinet? Yes/No
             If Yes, proceed to question 2. If No, skip to question 4.
  1. If so, does mother have a Medicaid or PeachCare ID Number? Yes/No
             If Yes, proceed to question 3. If No, skip to question 4.
  1. If so, enter her Medicaid or PeachCare ID Number: ______________
  1. Did mother receive a This Side Up gown for this infant? Yes/No
  2. Did mother receive a Safe and Snug baby book? Yes/No
For further assistance, please defer to the Safe to Sleep Campaign contact in your hospital’s Labor and Delivery Department. Should you experience technical issues with GAVERS, please report it using the GAVERS Issues link.
FREE CERTIFICATES

Have you always known that Vital Records does not issue free certificates, but you never knew why? Well, here is the rationale. Giving free items or services (e.g. Vital Records’ Certificates) would be a “gratuity” prohibited by the Georgia Constitution. Issuing free records is permitted if it results in a “substantial benefit to the state” by way of advancing a legitimate state interest. An example is the memorandum of understanding that we have with the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS). This is an agreement solely between the State Office and DFCS. It is not applicable to County Vital Records Offices, as only the State Office can issue such certificates for free. Under this agreement, we do not charge for issuance because requiring the foster parent to pay for a certificate for a child would be submitted as an expense, which would be paid by state dollars. Free issuance is also permissible when it’s a part of our legislative body of law such as O.C.G.A. 38-1-1 (2010), which permits issuance of birth, death, marital, and divorce certificates to veterans for free. 
NEW GAVERS FEE & ISSUANCE MODULE TESTIMONIAL

The State Office has successfully launched its new GAVERS Fee & Issuance Module in Gwinnett! Thank you for agreeing to be one of our first pilot sites. We value and appreciate your feedback!

“Thank you Donna for the support of your office in launching this project. This support has made it possible for the program to be a success with Gwinnett County Probate Court.  It has been a pleasure working with the state. It has also been great getting to know the staff from the state office. These projects help both divisions to better understand each other and how operations work in each office.”
Betty Leach, Court Associate Supervisor
Gwinnett County Probate Court
VITAL RECORDS AND GENEAOLOGY
Occasionally, a customer may request a vital record(s) for genealogical research. When this happens, follow the guidelines provided in Rules & Regulations section 511.1.3.33 para 5, which reads that registrars can disclose records to family members conducting genealogical research and/or a genealogist representing a family member.  Appropriate written, notarized authorization shall be required from the relevant family member for release of the records.  

In practice, the State Office will release any death record for genealogic purposes.  There is a $25 search fee for the record printed on white paper only with a stamp, watermark, or handwritten statement on the face of the document that reads, “For genealogy purposes only”.  The SSN needs to also be redacted on the death certificate for genealogic requests. 

In practice, the State Office will not release a birth record for a living person for genealogic purposes. This is to protect the security of the record as well as to protect against fraud identity for the living person.  If the person is deceased for whom the birth certificate is requested, a white copy of the birth certificate stamped ‘’deceased” can be released for the $25 search fee for the record printed on white paper along with a stamp, watermark, or handwritten statement on the face of the document that reads, “For genealogy purposes only”. Make certain that you confirm that the person is indeed deceased before releasing any birth record for this purpose.

It is important also to note that we absolutely do not release certified birth nor death records for genealogic purposes- only white copies. Also, requests for a death record older than 75 years or a birth record older than 100 years – must be referred to the State Archives at Clayton State in Morrow, Georgia.  We are hopeful that you find the aforementioned guidance helpful. Should you have any outstanding questions regarding the issuance of records for genealogic purposes, please contact your local regional consultant for further assistance.
GAVERS LEGACY BIRTH PROCESS

Legacy Birth is a process in the GAVERS Birth module that the State Office uses to enter custodial copies of records not filed with the State and to assign state file numbers. If a county Vital Records Office has a custodial copy of a record that was never filed at the State Office and the record has a file date, it may be established as a Legacy Birth. The county must mail the original record to the State Office via express courier. Upon receipt, the record will be entered into GAVERS, abstracted, given a state file number, and made available as a Legacy Birth.

Records that do not have a state file date may also be established as a Legacy Birth. Upon receipt, the State Office will conduct a thorough review and search of the record. Depending on the findings, additional documentary evidence may be required in order to process the record as a delayed birth.
GAVERS TECHNICAL TIPS

Passwords ensure the security and confidentiality of data access. The GAVERS application aids you in maintaining a solid level of security by prompting you to change your password every 90 days.  New passwords must be at least 9 characters in length and must contain an uppercase character and at least one special character (! @# $).  You may also decide to change your password manually by clicking on Global > Tools > Utilities > Change Password menu options.


Step 1: Enter Old Password. Submit a ticket on-line if you can’t remember your old password (https://gavers.dph.ga.gov/welcome.htm).

Step 2: Create New Password. The minimum requirements for a new password are:
  • Must be a minimum of (9) characters
  • Must have at least (1) uppercase and (1) lowercase
  • Must contain at least (1) of the following characters: ! @ # $
Step 3: Re-enter the password that you chose in STEP 2.

Step 4: Click on the Save button. ( DO NOT click “Reset”.)

In the event that you did not fulfill the minimum requirements, you will receive an “Alert” messaging to you that the password check failed. If you did not provide the correct password in Step 1, you will receive a “Change Password” message informing you that the password is invalid and that you are to try again.
  DEATH REGISTRATION CYCLE

The information collected on death certificates is essential to monitor the health of Georgia residents. These data allow Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track fatal conditions like cancer, heart disease, drug overdose, infant mortality, as well as any new or emerging conditions. Without the data from the death certificate, disease outbreaks might go unnoticed, and thus go unaddressed.

Another major concern for using death certificate data is timeliness. In order to respond effectively to new diseases or increasing deaths, it is important to have the completed death certificate available as soon as possible. If completed death certificates with cause of death information are not filed for several weeks or months after the date of death, the opportunity to mount an effective response might have passed. Therefore, timely death registration is essential to DPH and CDC.

Timely death registration also benefits the surviving families of the deceased. The grieving friends and families require a completed death certificate to manage their affairs, obtain survivor benefits from Social Security, and file death insurance claims. It is a disservice to surviving families and next of kin to force them to wait an extended period of time for a death certificate to be completed. Sending the records to the Social Security Administration in a timely manner is also an important fraud prevention measure. The sooner Social Security receives a completed certificate, the sooner they can deactivate a SSN and prevent that number from being used for fraudulent purposes.

Going forward, Georgia Vital Records is looking for ways to monitor and improve the timeliness of death registrations in the state. It is our goal that 80% of all death records will be completed and filed within 10 days of death. To that end, we have started tracking the cycle time of death records filed in each county. This is a tool to help you track the number of records filed in your county. In the future, we will be looking to our top performing counties to find best practices and more about their process to learn what makes them most effective.

We appreciate all of the work our counties do to complete death records, and we look forward to working with you to improve death registration cycle time, and in doing so, improve our ability to monitor the health and well-being of our Georgia residents.

BIRTH RECORD RATINGS: THE TOP FACILITIES
Congratulations to the medical facilities whose April ratings for timeliness and completeness have placed them in the top rankings in the state of Georgia. The scores were calculated using the new, stricter standards from NCHS. Click on the link below to see the birth record ratings for April and May 2016.

VITAL RECORDS GEORGIA CODE & REGULATIONS

The State Office of Vital Records is making it easy and convenient for you to access our code and regulations on the go. We have provided a link below for quick access.  Click here for Georgia Code. Click here for Rules and Regulations.

Georgia Department of Public Health | State Office of Vital Records | Phone: (404) 679-4702 |
Fax: (404) 679-4730 | andrea.dennis@dph.ga.gov | dph.georgia.gov/VitalRecords