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Florida

Past Assignee: From January 2003 until July 2004, there was a state assignee located in the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee, FL.

Projects/Impact:

•  The First “Epi-Aid” for MCH Activities: A team led by the CDC Assignee conducted the first "epi-aid" for MCH activities in Florida in February 2003 because of a spike in infant mortality in Brevard County. Medical record abstraction and review of vital statistics data back to 1997 revealed that an increased number of infants with birth weights less than 2,000 grams had died and that congenital malformations were the most common cause of death among infants. The Coalition is planning to develop public education messages about the association between advanced maternal age and malformations.
  
• Revision of Birth and Death Certificates: The assignee also worked on updating birth certificates and death certificates, for implementation in 2004 and 2005. Additions to the birth certificates included items such as, use of assisted reproductive technology and developing a more detailed training guide for hospital personnel who complete the birth certificates in the state. The revised certificate that includes data on assisted reproductive technology that may permit more detailed analysis of why prematurity and low birth weight continues to increase in Florida. The overall data quality of birth/death certificate reporting should improve with more detailed instructions and training provided to hospital staffs.
  
• Newborn Metabolic Screening: Like many states, Florida screens for metabolic diseases in the newborn population. The newborn screening test is mandated at birth and reporting of results is required. It was learned that the existing system of reporting newborn screen consists of aggregate data only; individual level data is not available in this system. A proposal of the linkage of birth certificate data with newborn screening results is in process. Florida may then be able to provide one-to-one linkage at the individual data level to better identify infants with metabolic disease and track those infant outcomes and improve performance of the program. Tracking of individual hospital data will be possible and a real-time system will be created that could prevent adverse consequences of metabolic disease in newborns.

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Date last reviewed: 03/29/2006
Content source: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion