Ohio Department of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics
2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes
Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 2 INTRODUCTION ...... 3 ELECTRONIC CERTIFICATES OF SERVICE ...... 3 DISPOSITION PERMIT APPROVAL AND DATE OF DISPOSITION ...... 5 FUNERAL HOME NAME CHANGES ...... 6 SSN REDACTION ON DEATH CERTIFICATES ...... 6 INFORMANT ADDRESS UPDATE ...... 7 DEATH CERTIFICATE APPEARANCE CHANGES ...... 7 Heading ...... 7 Decedent Section ...... 8 Disposition Section ...... 8 Registrar Section ...... 8 Certifier Section ...... 8 DEATH CORRECTION MODULE...... 9 Death Correction Applicants and User Roles ...... 9 Creating a New Death Correction ...... 9
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
INTRODUCTION
The Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics is pleased to provide Ohio funeral directors and funeral home staff with this guide to the changes made in the 2018 EDRS system update. For more specific detail regarding the complete EDRS system, please utilize the resource material found on the Vital Statistics Stakeholder Support Site: www.odh.ohio.gov/vitalstatistics/stakeholder/support.aspx.
You may also contact our Vital Statistics Helpdesk by calling 614-466-2531, option 2 then 3, or by email at [email protected].
ELECTRONIC CERTIFICATES OF SERVICE
Certificates of Service will become fully electronic records with a certification process like electronic death records. Funeral directors and funeral home staff will continue to begin creation of a new Certificate of Service by using the “File” – “New” – “Certificate of Service” menu pathway.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
Funeral home staff will enter the decedent’s information on the Decedent, Veteran, and Disposition tabs. These fields and tabs are unchanged from the previous process and should be completed as fully as possible. ODH Vital Statistics uses data from Certificates of Service to alert county Veterans Service Boards to the grave locations of military veterans. On the final Completed tab, funeral directors will need to select the appropriate local VS registrar for the jurisdiction where disposition occurs, mark the Certificate of Service as “Complete” and certify with an electronic signature. These fields will act as an electronic certification in the same way as the Completed tab on a death record in EDRS; while any funeral home EDRS user may mark a Certificate of Service as “Complete”, only a funeral director may certify and electronically sign the record.
Once the Certificate of Service has been certified and saved the status will update to REGISTERED, which can be seen on the Decedent tab. Certificates of Service will not need to be printed and presented to the local VS registrar for filing any longer; a REGISTERED (or PENDING) Certificate of Service should be visible to local VS EDRS users in the district where the disposition will take place without any additional actions. Neither funeral home staff nor local VS staff will have the need to print Certificates of Service going forward.
Corrections can be made to REGISTERED or PENDING Certificates of Service at any time by the funeral director who is listed on the record, or by funeral home staff EDRS users located in the funeral home listed on the record by opening the Certificate of Service, entering the new information, and saving the Certificate of Service. No special menu pathway is needed.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
DISPOSITION PERMIT APPROVAL AND DATE OF DISPOSITION
Permits may continue to be requested from any local registrar or sub-registrar, regardless of the jurisdiction where the death occurred. The way in which EDRS users can view their requested permits (using work queues or by searching for the records individually) have not been changed.
Because many of the fields related to disposition permit approval have been removed from the death certificate, EDRS will now allow changes to the Date of Disposition when the death record is in COMPLETE or FILED status by any Local Registrar Supervisor, Local Registrar Clerk, or Sub-Registrar user assigned to the death record by opening the record, selecting the Disposition tab, updating the date, and saving the record. Disposition permits for death records that are in COMPLETE or FILED status will continue to be available for approval on the Registrar tab.
For records in REGISTERED status corrections to the Date of Disposition and permit approvals will need to be done through the “Requests” – “Corrections” – “Death Burial/Cremation Update” pathway. Changes to the method of disposition and place of disposition must be made before a record is in FILED/REGISTERED status or a Death Record Correction will need to be created; see the bullet points below for clarification.
For Local Registrars and Sub-Registrars Changing the Date of Disposition or Approving a Permit: • If the death record is PENDING, FILED, or COMPLETE simply update the field and save the record. • If the death record is REGISTERED use the “Requests” – “Corrections” – “Death Burial/Cremation Update” menu pathway and save the record.
For Funeral Directors and Funeral Home Clerks Changing the Date of Disposition: • If the death record is PENDING or COMPLETE, update the field and save the record. • If the death record is FILED or REGISTERED, contact the local registrar or sub-registrar assigned to approve the permit.
For Funeral Directors and Funeral Home Clerks Changing the Method or Place of Disposition: • If the death record is PENDING or COMPLETE, update the field and save the death record. Reprint the paper death record if necessary. • If the death record is FILED or REGISTERED, you must complete a new Death Correction.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
FUNERAL HOME NAME CHANGES
Funeral directors are responsible for alerting the Vital Statistics Helpdesk when their funeral home has changed its name or license number. Funeral directors will use the “EDRS Support Document” available through the Vital Statistics Support Site to document these changes and submit the completed form via email to [email protected]. New funeral directors or funeral directors who are moving to a different funeral home should also complete the “EDRS Support Document” available through the Support Site and submit the form to the VS Helpdesk.
Funeral homes making changes to their names but keeping their license number will retain the ability to view all their death records previously created under the old funeral home name in EDRS; the User Location Code used by EDRS to guide search results will be tied to the license number of the funeral home. This means that funeral home EDRS users with a new funeral home license number will see only death records created under the new license number.
Once the requested table updates have been made by VS staff, EDRS users will see the options available to them on the drop-down tables (for funeral director names, funeral home locations, and trade call funeral home locations) updated to reflect the names and locations with effective dates that match the Date of Death.
For example, a death record with a date of death for 05/01/2018 will not display a particular funeral home on the Trade Call tab if that funeral home became active after 05/01/2018 or was deactivated prior to 05/01/2018. Death records in REGISTERED, FILED, PENDING, or COMPLETE status with funeral home name or funeral director name field values that fall outside of the effective date range will display the name as “OTHER” – “[Previous Name]”. These records will still print correctly as death certificates.
SSN REDACTION ON DEATH CERTIFICATES
When EDRS users in local VS offices and the ODH/VS office print a death certificate using the “Requests” – “Print: Death Certificate NO SSN” pathway, the Social Security Number field 4 currently appears on the certificate image as blank. This will be changed so that selecting the “Print: Death Certificate NO SSN” print option will generate a death certificate with the word “REDACTED” in field 4. This is intended to eliminate confusion about why a Social Security Number does not appear on a death certificate.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
INFORMANT ADDRESS UPDATE
A checkbox has been added on the Relative/Informant tab which can be checked by funeral home users creating a death record where the informant's address is the same as the decedent’s. Once checked the information for the country, state, city, mailing address, apartment number and zip code will auto- populate from the address as entered on the Decedent tab in the “Residence” paragraph.
DEATH CERTIFICATE APPEARANCE CHANGES
The fields and format of the Death Certificate were modified for consistency and to remove some fields providing more room at the bottom of the certificate for footnotes. In addition, some labels were re- named to accommodate electronic signatures. The changes are as follows:
Heading
The Registration District Number and instructions to use permanent blue or black ink have been removed.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
Decedent Section
Previously separated fields 8d, 8e, and 8f for the Street Address and ZIP code have been combined into one new field 8d titled “Street Address and Zip Code”. The field Inside City Limits (Box 8g) was removed.
The Armed Forces field (Box 9) was modified to also include the branch of service, if applicable.
Disposition Section
The words "Signature of" were removed from the label of Box 19.
The Method of Disposition, Place of Disposition, and Location boxes (22a, 22c, 22d) were combined into one field, Box 22, labeled “Method and Place of Disposition”. Field 22b, Date of Disposition, was removed.
Registrar Section
The label on Box 23 was changed to “Local Registrar”.
The fields related to the approval of disposition permits were removed (25a, 25b, 25c).
Certifier Section
The Certifier field (Box 26a) was reformatted to remove unnecessary lines and free up space.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
The label in Box 26e was changed to Certifier Name and Title.
DEATH CORRECTION MODULE
Prior to this EDRS update corrections to a death record have come in two forms: death affidavits for correcting demographic information, and medical supplements for correcting cause of death information. The new Death Correction Module will add a third type of record correction. New Death Correction documents will not require notarization, and can be used by funeral home and Vital Statistics (both local and state) users to make changes to demographic information, decedent name, gender, and Social Security number. This module will only affect death records from 2007 on forward.
Death records from 2006 and prior years that need demographic information to be corrected will still be done using the old Death Affidavit process.
Death Correction Applicants and User Roles
If anyone with knowledge of the facts is aware of an error in the non-medical information on a 2007 and forward Ohio death record they can apply to any of the following EDRS users for a New Death Correction to be created:
• Funeral Home Directors and Funeral Home Clerks • Coroners and Coroner Clerks • Local Registrar Supervisors and Local Registrar Clerks • ODH/VS Special Registration Supervisors and Special Registration Clerks
Creating a New Death Correction
Any of the above-named EDRS user roles can begin a new death correction by searching for a REGISTERED death record in need of a change, opening the record, and selecting the “Requests” – “Corrections” – “New Death Correction > 2006” menu option.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
This will open 2 windows in EDRS; one entitled “LAYERDEATH” and the other titled “DEATH”. There is no information that needs to be entered by the user on the LAYERDEATH screen. The LAYERDEATH record must be saved immediately.
Once the record is saved users will see a prompt window reminding them to also save and close the death record behind this layer document. Users should select “OK” and then close the LAYERDEATH record window.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
After closing the LAYERDEATH record window, the DEATH record in the second window must be saved and closed. Saving and closing the records in these two windows creates a ‘layer death record’ which preserves the original information before correction, and creates a new ‘cloned death record’ discussed below. After the death record is closed users must close their previous search window and re-search for the death record; simply re-opening the record from the previous search results will display an error message indicating that version of the death record (the layer record) is now sealed/hidden.
The death record should be opened from the new search results. This is a new death record even though it appears identical to the now-closed layer death record.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
For clarity we will refer to this newly-created record as the “clone” death record because it begins as a cloned version of the original death record.
Users will open the clone death record and then select the “File” – “New” – “New Death Correction” menu option shown below.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
Note that this is not the same as the “Requests” menu option used to create the layer death record. This selection will open a new window titled “DAFFIDAVIT”. This new window is the actual New Death Correction document where users will make their changes.
Three tabs will be visible: Applicant, Corrections, and Complete. The Applicant tab [shown below] must be completed with the name and address of the person requesting the corrections to the death record and their relationship to the decedent. This tab will also display information from the original death record such as the decedent’s name and date of death.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
The Corrections tab is where the items to be corrected will be selected and updated with the correct information. There are a total of ten available fields for correction on each death correction document. EDRS users will select the appropriate field from the drop-down menu and see the original value displayed before they enter the updated information. The list of fields available for correction will encompass all non-cause of death fields including Social Security Number and the name of the decedent.
Certain fields require additional input from the EDRS user to accurately capture the correct information. Correcting the “Education”, “Race”, “Hispanic” or “Marital Status” fields will display a message in the “Correct Entry” field that reads ‘ENTER CHANGES BELOW’.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
Users will need to scroll or tab down the Corrections screen past all the available correction fields to make changes to these fields using the appropriate drop-down or checkbox menu. Note that these fields have the same formatting and available options as a newly-created death record.
Once all the corrections have been made users will move to the Complete tab and will save the death correction document.
This will save everything that that has been have inputted and will also allow users the option to print a draft copy of the death correction affidavit. This draft copy is accessible through the “Requests” – “Print: Death Correction Affidavit” menu option.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
The draft copy is available to EDRS users only before the death correction has been marked as complete and moved to REGISTERED status. It is recommended for the use of funeral home and local Vital Statistics staff who wish to review the changes with an informant before finalizing the document and applying the changes to the death record. If no other corrections need to be made and everything is listed correctly on the copy users will now complete and register the death correction.
When the the correction is accurate and complete users will enter a “Y” in the “Correction Info Completed” field on the Completed tab and save the record.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
Users will see a pop-up dialogue box alerting them that the death correction will not need to be printed and signed for submission to ODH/VS.
A second pop-up dialogue box will remind users of the next step in the process: linking the correction to the cloned death record.
After clicking ‘OK’ on the second pop-up box EDRS users must go to the “Linking” – “To Death Record” menu option. This will take users back to a search screen where they must re-open the death record.
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Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics 2018 EDRS Updates Guide for Funeral Homes July 2018
Users will see that the fields have been updated with the correct information. Users must save the death record one last time to change the “Overall Record Status” from CORRECTION to REGISTERED.
At this point the Death Correction is completed and EDRS will have the following three documents: • A sealed/hidden layer death record accessible only to ODH/VS. • A completed death correction in REGISTERED status. • A cloned death record in REGISTERED status with the updated field information from the correction.
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