1. Improving Timeliness and Quality through an EDRS Kathlene A. Mueller, Manager Data, Statistics and Vital Records/ State Registrar

2. Session Objective EDR process in South Dakota Discuss impact on Timeliness Discuss impact on Quality

3. EDR Process South Dakota has separated the Death Certificate in two parts. Fact of Death Record – Completed by the Funeral Director Medical Certificate – Completed by the Certifier Funeral Director begins the process. After a certain number of fields are completed, the record is available for the Certifier to sign and shows up in their WorkQueue If the Certifier is Electronic, the FD contacts the Certifier using their preferred method of communication to indicate there is a record in the Certifiers Work Queue.

4. EDR Process Continued If the Certifier is paper, the funeral directors sends a paper Medical Certificate to the Certifier. The Certifier is responsible for submitting the paper certificate to the Department of Health. Legal responsibility for getting the Medical Certificate to the Department of Health has been removed from the funeral director. DOH does the follow-up with the certifier if the record has not been submitted within 21 days. Has it worked?

5. Timeliness In 2001, DOH conducted a filing time analysis of death records to develop a baseline for EDR. Timeliness overall has not been impacted by EDR. 16.4 % in 0-5 Days

6. Timeliness Continued 87% of Fact of Death Records are filed electronically. 8% of Medical Certificates are filed electronically. Electronic filing of Death records has a dramatic impact on timeliness. 44% in 0-5 Days 15% in 0-5 Days

7. Timeliness Continued Timeliness is also impacted by separating the Fact of Death Records from the Medical Certificate. 78% of Fact of Death Records are filed within 5 days. The ability to use the Fact of Death to share with partners greatly improves the ability to control for identity and benefits fraud. We have effectively take a month off of the process for sharing data with partners.

8. Timeliness During the months of January through May, 83 of 105 funeral homes filed Fact of Death Records electronically Round II funeral homes began to use the system in late May - early June bringing the total to 99 of 105 funeral homes. 32 of 64 counties had one or all of their coroners online. Additional coroners will be brought on through out the year. 1 Physician (member of work group) using the system. Unveiling the Physician Educational Sessions and online Tutorial in May, June and July.

9. Quality One way to improve Quality of data on the records is by using the Online Verification System. Of the Records filed 7.2% failed to receive a passed result. This number will decrease as the year goes on.

10. Quality The EDRS has improved the quality of data in a number of other ways Edits control for incomplete fields The ability to review the data and discuss changes that need to be made to the record with the physician prior to filing the record has dramatically improved the cause of death information. The ability to easily make amendments through the EDRS system has allowed the correction of errors to happen more readily make the final file as well as the certificate more accurate.

11. Conclusion EDRS works to improve both the Timeliness and the Quality of Data.