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February 2020

• BIRTH News
• DEATH News
• COUNTY News
• CHS News

BIRTH News

Working Copy Reminder

There is a new look with an additional watermark for Working Copies to indicate it is not a legal record. The Working Copy of a record may be used to check if the information is correct prior to registration.

Remember, Working Copies of vital records should not be released to customers or family members because:

• We do not want families to attempt to use non-certified copies.
• A Working Copy is not a legal certificate and will not benefit the family.
• Non-certified copies can be altered and re-photocopied.
• Releasing Working Copies creates a risk for fraud.

Contact Karen Rangan, Partner Services Manager, at 971-673-1160 if you have any questions.

Oregon Paternity Establishment Percentage Results for
The 2018-2019 Fiscal Year

Paternity establishment is an important issue in Oregon and has implications for both children and their parents. Each year the state must meet the goal set by the federal government of 90% paternity establishment. Meeting this crucial goal ensures that the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Division of Child Support can continue to receive the funding that is necessary to help children and families in need.

Oregon just barely met the federal requirement for the 2018-2019 fiscal year (October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019), with an overall paternity establishment of 90.82%. During the fiscal year, 14,092 paternities were established and of those, 11,536 (82%) were Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternities established in hospitals or birthing facilities. As few as 130 acknowledgments of paternity made the difference that helped us meet the 90% threshold.

Your participation is essential that these programs get the funding they need. Oregon needs facility acknowledgments of paternity to be above 80% for births to unmarried mothers. Achieving this percentage is vitally important so we can be confident that we can continue to meet the federal requirement. Birth Information Specialists and Midwives are instrumental in ensuring that the state of Oregon fulfills the paternity establishment percentage. Every form makes a difference in meeting the requirement.

Responsibilities of Birth Information Specialists and Midwives in a Facility:

• Provide the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity (45-31) form.
• Ensure parents have heard the Rights and Responsibilities before completing the form.
• Check the form for accuracy and completeness before submitting to the state.
• Make sure parents have signed and dated the form.
• Make sure the form is witnessed and dated by hospital staff.
• Make sure the dates the parents sign the form match the witness dates.
• Mail the forms in to us quickly. Do not hold in batches. Must be postmarked within 14 days of birth.

Our office can make this process easier for you by providing prepaid envelopes to return the Acknowledgment of Paternity form. Envelopes can be ordered using the form found here The paternity acknowledgment form is also available in OVERS and is auto populated with parent and facility information.

Please contact us for ways to increase the number of paternities at your facility or for questions about the Acknowledgment of Paternity form. We’d be happy to talk with you about how we can work together to establish paternities more effectively. You can also find information online at the Public Health Division as well as at the Division of Child Support.

For questions or more information, please call or e-mail: Kristen Farrell, Vital Records Specialist 971-673-1176 or e-mail chs.amendments@state.or.us.

To see how your facility did this past year, we’ve included a table reporting the paternity establishment percentages by facility.

DEATH News

Submitting a SSA-721 Form, Statement of Death by Funeral Directors

When a death certificate reaches personal valid or personal valid with exceptions status in OVERS, the State Vital Records office sends the records as part of a daily file to the Social Security Administration (SSA). This file, in combination with the SSN verification that is done when you complete a death record, is what SSA needs to end SSA payments. However, some records are rejected from SSA’s system and the funeral home may be asked to provide the SSA-721 form to the local SSA office.

Here are some examples of these rare occasions:

1. If the information submitted does not result in a ‘Passed’ response after clicking on the verify SSN link in OVERS. You are given 5 attempts from the start of the record to check your data-entry and decedent information* using this verify SSN link.
   *If you receive a result from the OVERS SSA verification process other than ‘Passed’, please continue completing the electronic death record and fax form SSA-721. Do not delay the death certificate while waiting for the family to verify the accuracy of Social Security number, legal name, date of birth and gender of the decedent.
2. If you are contacted by a local SSA office about an individual decedent.
3. If after a death certificate has been registered in OVERS, you know the social security number, legal name, date of birth or gender is amended, you may want to submit form SSA-721 by fax to your local SSA office because amendments are not currently sent via electronic file to SSA.

While the SSA-721 form is readily available online, the fax number for your local SSA office is not. Please make a note of your local SSA office fax number for future reference:

• Beaverton fax: 503-643-2197
• Bend fax: 541-385-6074
• Eugene fax: 541-465-6589
• Portland fax: 503-326-2897
• Roseburg fax: 541-672-2869
• Salem fax: 503-399-5986

If local SSA offices routinely request SSA-721 forms, please let us know. Online verification and electronic reporting through OVERS are the preferred method of conveying fact-of-death information to the SSA.

Impact of Unknowns

Recently, CHS has noticed that the number of Unknowns is increasing on death certificates. The Unknown tolerance level is determined by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). CHS sends your facility a report each month, which includes the unknown percentage of each item with the national standard threshold. Here is an example of an unknown report:

The percentage of each unknown item in your facility should be below the national standard. If any of the unknown items are above the national standard, your facility may be notified and required to review those death records and proceed with the appropriate amendments. Unknown should not be selected without first investigating the correct information. Death records with unknown data creates an inaccurate certificate for families and creates additional work for your facility.

If you have any questions, contact Registration Manager Marsha Trump, at
971-673-1191.

Working Copy Reminder

There is a new look with an additional watermark for Working Copies to indicate it is not a legal record. The Working Copy of a record may be used to check if the information is correct prior to registration. Remember, Working Copies of vital records should not be released to customers or family members because: We do not want families to attempt to use non-certified copies. A Working Copy is not a legal certificate and will not benefit the family. Non-certified copies can be altered and re-photocopied. Releasing Working Copies creates a risk for fraud. Contact Karen Rangan, Partner Services Manager, at 971-673-1160 if you have any questions.

COUNTY News

Hey County Vital Records Offices - Do you have new staff or want a refresher training on OVERS? See our list of past training webinars on our website.

Stay tuned for a soon-to-be announced schedule of upcoming trainings!

CHS News

We want your feedback!

Please complete this quick one minute Newsletter Feedback Survey to let us know your training preferences and interests for future Matters of Record newsletter content.

For technical support, contact: OVERS Help Desk.

CHS Website

VitalChek Order Hotline:
888-896-4988

VitalChek Order Online: www.vitalchek.com

General Information: 971-673-1190

FAX: 971-673-1201

TTY: 711