A huge “Thank You!” to facility administrators who have been working with your medical certifiers to get them signed up for OVERS and supporting them as they use the system. We know this is not always an easy task and we appreciate your efforts in helping your facilities to increase their rates of certifying records electronically.
We also recognize all of the hard work funeral directors and staff put into the process of registering the death record on behalf of the families they represent. Your efforts to encourage medical certifiers to use OVERS is greatly appreciated. CHS is continually working to increase the number of records that are registered electronically.
Domicile Unknown
When SB 850 was implemented in January of 2022, asking funeral home directors and staff to record the address of decedents who died while experiencing homelessness with an address of “Domicile Unknown” was a major shift in best practices that had been in place for many years. “Any location is better than no address,” became, “Submit ‘Domicile Unknown,’ even if you know a general area the decedent lived or address the decedent sometimes frequented.”
Thank you to those who have adopted the new practice of reporting decedents without residences under the new law and who work with us to fix incorrect entries. The implementation of SB 850 has been a true team effort with funeral home partners and continues to be an important work in progress.
Collecting this data helps bring visibility to the lives of those who are experiencing homelessness and better address the challenges they face.
Since SB 850 went into effect 455* decedents have been registered as Domicile Unknown. We encourage you to visit our new Domicile Unknown Dashboard to see the latest statistics. The information is updated monthly.
*2022 year-to-date January – November
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New Resources for Supporting Gender Identity
CHS updated materials and created additional resources for those wishing to change their birth record to support their gender identity. This includes a redesigned application and information form, updated web page with extensive directions and FAQs, and a new step-by-step video to walk people through the process of changing their name and/or sex on their record of live birth. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to visit the web page and share it with anyone who may ask about this topic.
Triennial Review Tool Revamped
Staff from the State and County Vital Records Offices spent many hours this year revising the tools that are used to evaluate compliance with vital records laws and procedures. The updated resources are simpler, more comprehensive, and help counties better understand what is required of them. We expect a final version of the Triennial Review Tool to be available in early 2023. We appreciate the feedback and suggestions we received from our county partners. Your input was invaluable and helped to make this project a success!
Trainings
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2022 was a year of continued learning. Partners expanded their knowledge and kept current on vital records changes by attending trainings. Individuals met one-on-one and in groups to learn how to use OVERS, better understand their roles, get a refresher, or get up to date about new changes. |
If you would like to sign up for group or individual trainings in 2023, please contact Partner Services at CHS.PartnerServices@oha.oregon.gov. Our trainer will work with you to create an experience that best fits your needs. We will also host trainings for any new laws or procedures that may occur in the new year.
As we begin to fill in the dates for the 2023 calendar, we are excited for many things the new year holds, both known and unknown.
New Email Addresses
The units of CHS have new email addresses. The endings of the addresses have changed from @dhsoha.state.or.us to @oha.oregon.gov. A complete listing of each unit of CHS is listed near the bottom of the newsletter. The Contact Us page of our website has also been updated with a listing of each unit’s contact information and what job functions they perform for CHS. If you are ever in doubt whom you should contact for help with a specific task, please use the Contact Us page as a resource.
For those of you who regularly use our website, you will be seeing some changes to some key pages this next year. We are working on making the information more user-friendly and up to date. If you have not checked out our website, we hope you will after we introduce you to the improved pages. Stay tuned!
Continued Travel
We are very excited to continue to travel throughout the state to visit our partners. We hope to visit 12 County Vital Records Offices this year and include the area funeral homes and medical and birthing facilities with each visit.
Depending on your location and the time of year, in-person trainings are also sometimes possible. We have done trainings at staff meetings, orientations or facility offices upon request.
We love to connect and collaborate with our partners and look forward to doing this much more in 2023!
Increase the Percentage of Electronic Death Records
We are dedicated to increase the amount of death records that are certified electronically. With your help, we will continue to contact and communicate with medical certifiers and facilities who are not regularly using OVERS.
We also strive to improve the overall experience when using OVERS. We appreciate your feedback and, when possible, incorporate suggestions for improvement.
Improve the Accuracy of REALD Data
Thanks to wonderful feedback from Birth Information Specialists, we are currently modifying the Parent Birth worksheet to remove some of the confusion with parts of the REALD questions. We are adding some visuals to make commonly missed questions stand out and providing more directions for sections that need more clarity. In response to a request from a facility, we also hope to have a version of the worksheet that will be fillable.
Thanks to a recent brainstorm from our Birth Information Specialist Workgroup, we are creating a new handout to share with nurses and staff who collect the Parent Birth Worksheets from parents. This handout will provide information with visuals about which sections are most often overlooked by parents and emphasize the importance of making sure all fields are complete before parents leave the hospital. Keep watch for more about these resources in the Birth section of an upcoming issue of Matters of Record.
Oregon Vital Records | We Are Vital and We Count
Some of the forms and communication created by CHS include the tagline: We are vital and we count. It is a clever play on words of one of our core tasks of counting and tracking numbers for the records and statistics for the state of Oregon.
But the information means something much more than just charts and graphs. A paternity form starts the process of allowing a child to receive healthcare benefits. A birth certificate lets a family enroll their child in soccer camp. A death certificate helps provide closure to a grieving family as they navigate all the necessary steps after a loved one dies.
The statistics we collect help the medical field react to and plan for current health emergencies. The information helps inform social programs and helps research and identify trends that that are affecting Oregonians. These are only a few small examples of the ways the information we collect is used.
Thank you for all your hard work this past year. Even with the challenges we have all faced in 2022, your dedication to the Oregonians you serve, your patience, and your diligence have continually impressed us. We look forward to our continued partnership in 2023!
With Sincere Gratitude,
The Staff of the Center for Health Statistics
The County Work Group
The County Work Group is an optional meeting for County Vital Records Staff to learn about current vital records topics, ask questions and share ideas with each other.
Register here for the County Work Group February 20, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
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