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March 2020

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

Welcome!

Welcome to the monthly newsletter for the Center for Health Statistics, Vital Records office. You will find that it is filled with information that is important for you and your facility like OVERS changes, updates to Oregon laws, statistics, available reports, and process reminders. In the table of contents on the left, click on any category of news to jump to articles of interest.

We want this newsletter to be valuable for you, so please share your feedback and suggestions to help us improve.

BIRTH News

BIS Training Reminder!

Have you completed the BIS Training package yet?
All existing birth information specialists and midwives must complete this training and submit their training certificates to CHS by June 30, 2020.

For more information, contact our Vital Records Trainer  at 971-673-1353.

How to Read the Monthly Birth Facility Performance Report

Each month, a Birth Facility Performance Report is generated and sent to your hospital. There are four basic sections in this report.

The first section below shows the number of births that occurred at your facility for the month and breaks it down into three parts: Unregistered, Registered, and Total number of records. Unregistered records either need to be affirmed or have missing information that requires your attention in order to be completed. Births to unwed mothers are included in the total and are also reported separately to show the number of paternities to unwed mothers. These records can be found in one of the following Work Queues in OVERS: Birth Certification Required, Legal Pending, and Medical Pending. Please refer to our Spring 2019 Matters of Record Birth Newsletter for more on using queues.

The second section shows how many birth records were registered and signed within 5 calendar days from date of birth (as required by ORS 432.088), as well as the average days to sign a record in OVERS with and without an Acknowledgment of Paternity. This section also shows the number of paternity forms completed at your facility. Please note, the percentage of unwed births printed in this report is actually the percentage of paternity acknowledgments signed at the facility for all births for that time period.

The third section shows the six most common areas on a birth record that are reported as “Unknown”. The section shows the yearly standard set by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). NCHS is the federal agency responsible for compiling data from all states. Oregon is required to meet the standards set by NCHS. As shown in the table below, this facility is above tolerance percentage in three areas. We currently do monthly follow up with facilities that are above the tolerance level in these areas. The goal is to have a complete birth record and be below the NCHS tolerance levels.

The last section shows the number of fetal deaths that occurred at your facility and how many were signed within 5 days of delivery in OVERS.

If you have any questions about the Monthly Birth Facility Performance Report, contact Registration at 971-673-1151.

Things to Know About Requesting a Social Security Card

It’s tax season and parents will need a social security number for their newborn to claim child-related tax breaks like the child tax credit or the dependent exemption. A social security number is also needed to apply for government benefits, to add a baby to health insurance plans, or to set up a college savings account.

Ordering a Social Security card is easy. Just have the parents check the box to request a social security number for the child on the Parent Worksheet and fill out the Authorization to Establish Social Security Number at Birth form. Then, on the Child page in OVERS, select Yes, Parent wants a card issued from the Request SSN for Child drop-down menu.

Verify that the parents address is correct and that they haven’t listed a PO Box for their address. The Social Security Administration will not send a card to a PO Box or forward a social security card if the parents move to a new address. The child must have a first and last name listed on the birth record.

Only records that have been registered will get sent to the Social Security Administration. If the birth record has a pending Acknowledgment of Paternity, it will not be sent until the AOP has been approved and the record is registered. Let the parents know that the card can take four to eight weeks to be received.

If parents have not received a social security card for their child after eight weeks, then they can visit their local Social Security office to order one. The Social Security office will need a certified copy of the birth certificate and may need a letter on official letterhead from the facility where the child was born stating that the child was born there.

For more information, visit our Social Security Enumeration at Birth page.

DEATH News

Removal Registration for Out-of-state Funeral Homes

A funeral service practitioner licensed by the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board can file and sign an Oregon Report of Death regardless of where the funeral service practitioner works. It does not matter if the business address of the funeral home is in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Nevada, or California. If the Oregon license starts with RR, FS or CO, the record can be registered.

Any funeral service practitioner employed by a funeral home registered with the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board as a removal entity (RR License) can file and sign an Oregon Report of Death. On the certificate, list the RR license or the funeral director’s Oregon License in the OR License Number field (License Number field under Funeral Director in OVERS).

Currently, only Washington funeral homes can apply to be a registered removal entity. Idaho, Nevada, and California do not currently have the reciprocal laws to qualify. Any Idaho, Nevada, and California funeral home will need to find an Oregon licensed funeral service practitioner to sign the Report of Death.

New Authenticator App for OVERS is Live for Medical Certifiers! CHS is excited to announce a new, secure, and convenient option for Medical Certifiers certifying a death record. The authenticator app allows users to securely certify and amend a death record anywhere, using any browser, without the need of a biometric device. Any authenticator app can be used to link your information to OVERS, and it can be installed on any smart phone and used within minutes. Just search for "authenticator" in your app store, set it up, and you're ready to go! See our easy-to-use Set Up Quick Guide: http://bit.ly/authappguide For training requests, contact the Vital Records Trainer at 971-673-1353. For technical support, contact the OVERS Help Desk at 971-673-0279.

COUNTY News

- Case Id
- State File Number
- Decedent Name
- Date of Birth
- Date of Death
- Id Tag Number
- Record Created Date
- Record Received Date
- Certified Date
- Registration Date
- Year of Death

Although it is not required, we strongly recommend that counties use this report to support their tracking needs for the Special Registration Work Queue. This report is complimentary to the paper tracking of the 24-Hour Receipt of Body card.

Click here to access the step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to run the report in OVERS.

If you have any technical questions, please contact the OVERS Help Desk at 971-673-0279.

CHS News

Welcome Melissa Shaw! CHS is excited to announce Melissa Shaw, our new Death Amendments Specialist for the Amendments Team.  Melissa will evaluate, organize, and process all personal amendments to Oregon death records, which are items 1-45 (except item 2) on the certificate of death. She will be the point of contact for personal death amendments, and provide information about policies and procedures and interpret ORS and administrative rules. You can reach Melissa Shaw at 971-673-1163.