Working to improve death certificate accuracy for medically associated patient harm that results in death.

This is a national public health issue. These deaths are not included in the statistics and data on the leading causes of death published by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. This results in a lack of necessary data to define the scope of this problem, raise awareness and direct funding towards research and prevention. It also presents issues for families’ future medical histories and can result in further emotional harm from not ever knowing the true cause of death.

COMMITTEE:

• Death Certificate Reform
• Leader: Lori Nerbonne

ACTIONS:

• Letter to federal health agencies recommending Death Certificate reforms from Lori Nerbonne, New England Patient Voices, and PSAN advocates concerning inaccuracies in death certificate data and statistics that miss important causes and contributing factors. The problem we are working to address is the omission of patient harm from medical injuries, accidents and healthcare acquired infections in national health statistics’ leading causes of death. (June 2022)
• American Medical Informatics Association, Panel Discussion: Health Tech Views and Voices, How Is Cause-of-Death Data Collected and Is It Trustworthy? (December 2021)
• Committee Presentation by Dr. Robert Anderson (August 2021)
• Letter to Director of National Center for Health Statistics, Dr. Robert Anderson (August 2021)

RESOURCES:

• CDC Understanding Death Data
• CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics
• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, Death Certificate–Based ICD-10 Diagnosis Codes for COVID-19 Mortality Surveillance — United States, January–December 2020 (April  2021)
• LA Times Article by Melody Peterson: The Accuracy of Death Certificates Has Never Been More Important (October 2020)
• CDC Vital Statistics Reporting Guidance: Vital Statistics Reference Guidance, Guidance for Certifying Deaths Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19), Number 03 (April 2020)
• A Whopping One In Three Death Certificates Lisst Wrong Cause of Death, by Olivia Miltner (October 2018)
• PBS Frontline Post Mortem: Death Investigation in America (2011)
• PBS Frontline, FAQ Things to know about Death Certificates (2011)
• Physician’s Handbook for Medical Certification of Death, published by the CDC’s Center for Health Statistics (2003)

BLOGS:

• More Accurate Death Certificates Are Necessary by David P. Lind, Heartland Health Research Institute (December 2022)
• What is a Death Certificate Worth by Lori Nerbonne (October 2021)
• Death Certificates Breathe Life Into Setting Public Health Priorities, But Are They Accurate? US PIRG’s Patricia Kelmar (July 2021)