Board of Scientific Counselors – Presentations

September 17-18, 2007

Back to September 2007 Presentations

Update: Mortality Review

PowerPoint Presentation [PDF – 367 KB]

Slide 1

Update: Mortality Review

Robert N. Anderson Ph.D.
Mortality Statistics Branch
Division of Vital Statistics

Slide 2

Address Issues of Confidentiality, Privacy and Data Release

• Immediate Highest Priority 2
• Revised data release policy
• Effective with release of 2005 birth and death data
• Revised form for executing Data Use Agreements

Slide 3

Improvements and Comparability in Certification, Coding, and Classification Procedures

• High Priority 1, 8, 10, & 12
• Training for cause-of-death certifiers
  • Delaware (2005-2007) – lectures in all major hospitals – disseminated on CD to all licensed physicians
  • New Hampshire – training for physicians in use of EDR system
  • Tennessee – developing training program tied to CME credits – UT-Memphis

Slide 4

Improvements and Comparability in Certification, Coding, and Classification Procedures

• Standardized coding in place – Mortality Medical Data System (MMDS)
• Improvements in MMDS
• Correcting errors
• Incorporating annual classification updates
• Improving throughput
• Use of cause of death text from MMDS

Slide 5

Improvements and Comparability in Certification, Coding, and Classification Procedures

• Ongoing efforts to assist WHO in improving the ICD
  • Mortality Reference Group
  • Update and Revision Committee
  • Development of ICD-11

Slide 6

Develop a Master Analytic Plan

• High Priority 2
• Creation of a research agenda for MSB
• Areas of focus
  • Mortality prevalence and trends
  • Data quality
  • Methodological Research
  • Use of data
  • Systems, processing and procedures
  • NMFS

Slide 7

Promote the Expansion and Implementation of Electronic Death Registration (EDR)

• High Priority 14
• Promotion of EDR systems with the Influenza Division as a means of providing more timely mortality data for influenza/pandemic surveillance
• We have worked hard to procure pandemic funding for state EDR projects

Slide 8

Slide 9

Develop a Rapid, National Mortality Surveillance System

• High Priority 5
• Hinges on:
  • Development of EDR systems
  • Reengineering of internal DVS systems
• Need to access and analyze data near real-time
• Pandemic flu activities
• Influenza Surveillance Steering Committee
• Influenza Mortality Surveillance Workgroup

Slide 10

Develop a Rapid, National Mortality Surveillance System

• Viewed as a replacement for the 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System

Slide 11

Develop a Rapid, National Mortality Surveillance System

• Goal is to report deaths – both fact of death and cause of death – within 3-5 days from the date of death
• Pilot project
  • 3 states – NH, UT, HI

Slide 12

Decrease Turnaround Time in Preparation of Reports

• High Priority 11
• Reengineered internal DVS systems are being designed to speed data processing
• Should result in data being ready for tabulation in a more timely fashion

Slide 13

Increase Dissemination and Usefulness of Multiple Cause Mortality Data

• High Priority 16 and Moderate Priority 19
• A new report on multiple cause data is in development
  • Prevalence, patterns and trends
  • Methods of tabulation and analysis
• Collaboration with NCPHI to add multiple cause data to CDC WONDER

Slide 14

Assess Data Quality

• Moderate Priority 3 & 4
• Research on the quality of race and Hispanic origin reporting on the death certificate
• Funding from NIA to produce life tables by education and nativity – will require analysis of the quality of reporting of these items

Slide 15

Web-based Data Systems

• Moderate Priority 14
• VitalStats
  • Data for deaths will be available this year

Slide 16

Picture of the National Center of Health Statistics’ Vital Stats web page.

Slide 17

Web-based Data Systems

• Improvements to CDC WONDER
• Multiple cause data
• Additional tabulation lists – infant causes, injury mortality