Video Series for Funeral Directors: Recording Occupation and Industry Information
The National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS), a subset of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has produced a series of short training videos to provide guidance and tips for funeral directors and funeral home staff to improve the quality of occupation and industry items on death records. CHS will be highlighting each of these videos over the coming months.
We encourage you to watch each video and bookmark the NOMS web page as a resource for future use.
Here are a few teasers of content covered in the first video of the series (Part 1: Introduction):
We hope you enjoy this series. If you need additional assistance with completing the occupation and industry information for the death record, contact the Registration Unit at CHS.Registration@oha.oregon.gov.
New Automatic Reply for Funeral Home Orders
Since the Center for Health Statistics established CHS.FuneralHomeOrders@oha.oregon.gov for correspondence related to death certificate orders from funeral home staff, it has seen regular use.
Based on your feedback, we have added an auto-reply message that provides confirmation that your order or message was received and reminders about relevant timelines and requirements.
We will keep the auto-reply up to date with the most current information, but the initial text will be:
Hello, thank you for contacting the Oregon Center for Health Statistics (State Vital Records) regarding funeral home orders.
If you’ve submitted an order please make sure that it is signed and dated and that you have included a copy of an acceptable government-issued ID. The state vital records office does not currently offer the option to keep ID on file.
Orders are typically mailed via USPS within 7 business days and billed to your facility monthly. If something additional is needed, we may reach out to you by secure email. If you have not received an email or your records after 15 business days, please email us or call 971-673-1205.
Same-day or expedited service is not available for these orders. If you require expedited shipping or processing, you can place your order directly with VitalChek or make an appointment to order records in-person at 800 NE Oregon St., Portland, OR 97232. For VitalChek and in-person orders, payment is required at the time of ordering and additional fees apply. Orders placed through VitalChek will also require authenticating documentation including ID and a letter on official letterhead of your funeral home.
If you decide to order in-person, through VitalChek, or at a county vital records office, please let us know as quickly as possible to avoid being charged for duplicate orders.
Please contact CHS.FuneralHomeOrders@oha.oregon.gov for questions about funeral home orders.
The Facility Administrator Work Group
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The Facility Administrator Work Group is an optional meeting for OVERS facility administrators to discuss helpful tips, training opportunities, workflows, strategies to overcome barriers, and other topics that will help with death records at their facilities. We hope to see you at this opportunity to support and collaborate with peers across the state!
Facility Administrator Work Group
January 3, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Register here!
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If you have any questions about the Facility Administrator Work Group, contact CHS.PartnerServices@oha.oregon.gov.
Assisting Those Who Need a Vital Record Amended
County vital records staff are sometimes contacted by people who need help amending a vital record. They may have noticed an error on a birth or death certificate, have a question about an amendment request that they have already submitted, or be concerned about the time that their amendment is taking.
County staff should refer all amendment inquiries to the State Vital Records Amendments Unit unless they are amending an original paper or hybrid death record that is in their possession with an affidavit signed by the funeral director or medical certifier.
For the fastest response, the person requesting an amendment should email CHS.Amendments@oha.oregon.gov. If email is not an option, they may leave a message for response at 971-673-1147. Spanish-speaking Amendments staff are available. Messages and emails should include the following information:
- Full name of child or decedent,
- Date of birth or date of death,
- Whether a request and/or fee has already been submitted to make the change to the record (including order number if available),
- The error that appears on the certificate or what needs changing, and
- How the corrected information should appear on the certificate.
Amendments staff will provide the requestor with instructions about fees, forms and other processes they need to follow to make the requested change and will reach out to other facilities as needed.
We appreciate county staff who want to help families and provide good customer service. The best way to do this is to give them the Amendments staff contact information. Do not share specific information about what will be required for an amendment, contact birth facilities, or advise families to contact birth facilities. Doing so can complicate and delay the normal amendment process. Your role should be limited to providing the Amendments contact information and (optionally) notarizing affidavits which the requestors have filled out themselves based on the instructions they received from Amendments.
A handout with Amendments contact information for birth certificate errors has recently been developed. It is available on our website.
Contact CHS.Amendments@oha.oregon.gov if you have any questions about amendments.
Registrar and Deputy Registrar Commission Renewals
Just a friendly reminder that each County Registrar and Deputy County Registrar must complete and sign a commission form. Registrars and Deputies who have not sent in their forms will no longer be authorized to register records or issue certified copies of certificates starting January 1, 2024, and their access to OVERS will be denied.
Commission renewals for County Registrars and Deputy County Registrars were emailed on November 1, 2023, and are being processed. If you have not submitted your completed and signed commission forms, please do so as soon as possible. The commission form can be found here.
The County Registrar must sign the form for each Deputy County Registrar in their county. Completed forms may be submitted in the following ways:
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Fax:
Attention: Partner Services 971-673-1202
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Mail:
Center for Health Statistics
Attention: Partner Services
PO Box 14050
Portland, OR 97293-0050
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Email as an Attachment:
CHS.PartnerServices@oha.oregon.gov
When your commission renewal form has been through the review process and approved by the State Registrar, a new commission certificate and a copy of the approved form will be sent to your office by December 31, 2023. If you have any questions regarding the commission renewal process, please contact CHS.PartnerServices@oha.oregon.gov.
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.
County Work Group
December 19, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Register here!
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