Did You Know Your Work Collecting Birth Data is Published for Use Locally and Nationally?
You may be surprised to learn how much of the work you do collecting and entering birth information in OVERS affects local and national public health.
The data collected on the record of birth is utilized by statisticians here in the Center for Health Statistics (CHS) to create a variety of reports and tables. These reports and tables can then be utilized by local and national partners such as PRAMS (Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System) or NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics). These reports provide a wealth of information - some of which may even directly impact your facility. In addition, researchers working at the Public Health Division, universities and medical schools, and local health departments rely on birth certificate data to write grants, prepare and evaluate programs, and inform ongoing research to improve the health of Oregon’s mothers and babies. This is why gathering accurate and complete birth certificate information is so important.
Interested in seeing these reports for yourself?
The Center for Health Statistics has published annual reports on birth data since 1905. Initially this data contained simple counts of births; but more current reports can be found online with over 40 tables containing demographic and medical outcome information for residents of Oregon.
Oregon birth data can be found here.
New birth and pregnancy data dashboards
The Center for Health Statistics has public data dashboards on topics related to birth and pregnancy in Oregon. These dashboards are part of a project to present Oregon’s annual vital record data in more accessible, engaging and interactive ways. They can be accessed here.
In the birth dashboards, you can choose a topic and then select single or multiple counties to see graphs of data. In the below example, the age group with the most births in Clackamas County is women ages 30-34. By clicking other counties in the map, you can see how the number of births shift between the age groups, depending on the county.
The State Needs Your Help to Meet Federal Requirement for Paternity Establishment
Paternity establishment 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. We need your help to make sure we meet our goal.
Oregon needs facility Acknowledgments of Paternity (AOP) to be above 80% for births to unmarried mothers.
Birth Information Specialists and Midwives are instrumental in ensuring that the state of Oregon fulfills the paternity establishment percentage.
Responsibilities of Birth Information Specialists and Midwives in a Facility:
- Ensure parents have heard the Rights and Responsibilities before completing the AOP form.
- Check the form for accuracy and completeness before submitting to the state.
- Make sure parents have signed and dated the form.
- Check if the form is witnessed and dated by hospital staff.
- Be sure the dates the parents sign the form match the witness dates.
- Mail the forms to us immediately. Do not hold in batches. They must be postmarked within 14 days of birth.
- Provide the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity (45-31) form to parents as soon as you can. There is another option if the form can’t be signed at the hospital: you can provide the notarized Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity Affidavit (form 45-21) or direct the parents to the Vital Records website to download the form: http://bit.ly/orpaternityinfo. The 60-day grace period to receive these forms and when no processing fee will be charged is still in effect. There are now Oregon notaries that can notarize a document remotely online.
- Our office can make this process easier for you by providing prepaid envelopes to return the Acknowledgment of Paternity form and various ways to access the forms.
- Envelopes and the 45-21 or 45-31 forms can be ordered using the form found here.
- The AOP form (45-31) is also available to download in OVERS.
- The AOP affidavit form (45-21) can now be downloaded from the Vital Records website.
Below you will find the hospital paternity establishments for October 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Hospitals at 80% or higher - keep up the good work. Hospitals below 80% - every form makes a difference.
For tips on how to increase the number of paternities at your facility or for questions about the form please contact Vital Records Paternity Specialist, Kristen Farrell, at (971) 673-1176 or e-mail CHS.Amendments@dhsoha.state.or.us.
If you would like individual or group training on AOP’s, contact Kathy Ellis, Vital Records Trainer, at (971) 673-1353 or email Kathy.Ellis@dhsoha.state.or.us.
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