Fetal Death Reporting

Minnesota Department of Health sent this bulletin at 11/06/2019 10:55 AM CST
minnesota department of health

Fetal Death Reporting

Policy Change

The Office of Vital Records accepts fetal death registrations only when the gestational age is 20 or more weeks. This is in accordance with Minnesota law. This policy change goes into effect on November 7, 2019. It does not apply to induced terminations of pregnancy.

Reason for policy change

State law does not require reporting for fetal deaths of less than 20 weeks gestation; only fetal deaths of 20 or more completed weeks of gestation are included in state and national statistics. Up to this point in Minnesota, filing fetal death reports for gestational ages of less than 20 weeks has been optional.

Changes in MR&C

  • Fetal deaths of less than 20 weeks gestation, if entered into MR&C, cannot be finalized
  • The warning message shown in red appears on the following three screens: Enter basic information for fetal death report, Fetus’ Medical Information and Finalize Record
    • Report fetal deaths only when gestational age is 20 weeks or greater

Effective date and time

MR&C changes go into effect on November 7, 2019 at 6 a.m.

To whom does this apply?

  • Birth registrars
  • Birth attendants
  • Birth registrar supervisors/managers

What you need to do

For fetal deaths of 20 or more weeks gestation

  1. Have the mother complete the Mother’s worksheet for creating a fetal death report attached as PDF.
  2. Have a medical professional complete the Cause of fetal death and medical information for fetus and mother attached as PDF.
  3. Enter the fetal death information into MR&C within 5 days of the delivery.
  4. Clear your computer’s browsing history and update your shortcuts and favorites; the fetal death worksheets have new file names.
  5. Visit the Birth and Fetal Death Registration Information for Hospital Staff pages on the Minnesota Department of Health website.

For fetal deaths of less than 20 weeks gestation

  1. DO NOT ask the mother or medical professional to complete the worksheets.
  2. DO NOT enter information for fetal deaths of less than 20 weeks gestation into MR&C.

If you have questions, contact the Office of Vital Records at health.vitalrecords@state.mn.us or 651-201-5970.