Newsletters from the National Vital Statistics System
This newsletter is published by the NVSS to enhance the community of vital records and vital statistics practice, provide useful information for vital statistics and vital records professionals, and inform the broader community of interested stakeholders.
November pdf icon[PDF – 330 KB]
Inside this issue – Information about reporting injuries on the death certificate; overview of the vital statistics modernization community of practice; results from new reports about maternal and infant characteristics among women with confirmed or presumed cases of coronavirus disease and much more…
October pdf icon[PDF – 370 KB]
Inside this issue – Information on the next Fetal Death Webinar; recommendations on ways of improving the quality of the cause of death; results from new publications with important data on excess deaths and general fertility rates and much more…
September pdf icon[PDF – 328 KB]
Inside this issue – Guidance for requesting out of state coded cause of death files; a preview announcing the launch of the new National Death Index (NDI) Portal; a first look at our new vital statistics modernization community of practice; newly released publication on racial and ethnic disparities in fetal deaths, and much more…
August pdf icon[PDF – 321 KB]
Inside this issue – Updates on recent NAPHSIS trainings and resources; reminders on 2019 mortality review processes and invoicing; new publications on infant mortality and urban–rural differences in suicide rates; how Maryland is making death data modernization work for everyone; vitals staff spotlight; and more…
July pdf icon[PDF – 379 KB]
Inside this issue – NAPHSIS webinars on accreditation and data visualization; impact of COVID-19 on 2020 mortality completeness; review of expanded birth data reporting; newly released publications on teen birth rates and infant mortality; Indiana’s unexpected approach to modernizing death data, and more…
June pdf icon[PDF – 402 KB]
Inside this issue – Updates on the upcoming Vital Records and Their Administration: Statistics and Data Quality Course (virtual); release of the 2019 Provisional Birth Data and the 2018 Linked Birth and Infant Death Data; maternal COVID-19 and birth reporting; reporting telehealth visits for prenatal care.
May pdf icon[PDF – 313 KB]
Inside this issue – New resources from NCHS to help respond to the COVID-19 pandemic; how New York State is breaking down barriers for death data; updates on the annual VSCP meeting and upcoming NAPHSIS training; information for processing and requesting data files; contract closeout and file release dates for 2019 data.
April pdf icon[PDF – 270 KB]
Inside this issue – COCA webinar for clinicians on Certifying Deaths Due to COVID-19; how modernizing data on drug overdose deaths advances understanding of suicide; transmitting mortality records to NCHS during the pandemic; how to attend the annual VSCP meeting and other webinars; contract closeout and file release dates for 2019 data.
March pdf icon[PDF – 399 KB]
Inside this issue – Plans for the VSCP annual meeting to go virtual; overview of The Vital Records and their Administration course that was held in Salt Lake City, Utah; access to medical reports on the VSCP website as a way to improve the quality of cause of death data; new, must-see reports on trends and characteristics of sexually transmitted infections during pregnancy and recent trends in vaginal birth after cesarean delivery.
February pdf icon[PDF – 615 KB]
Inside this issue – Seeking ideas to improve the next VSCP; special project to improve geocoding for small-area estimates of life expectancy; Iowa improves birth registration timeframes and data quality; how jurisdictions can test new systems with NCHS; upcoming NAPHSIS trainings on vital records accreditation and fetal death; 2020 task orders for VSCP data.
January pdf icon[PDF – 392 KB]
Inside this issue – First release of national maternal mortality data in more than a decade; new, must-see reports on infant mortality rates due to birth defects, 80 years of fertility trends, and unnecessary pelvic exams in young women; upcoming training opportunities; new brochure for funeral directors; 2019 data year close-out dates, and more…
December pdf icon[PDF – 324 KB]
Inside this issue – New Mortality Data Quality Workgroup report available; 2018 Final Birth Data release and highlights; collecting and reporting partially unknown dates; learn about our Vital Statistics Specialists; preparing for the next VSCP contract; connect to Minnesota’s Vital Records News; APHA Excellence in Science award winner; vitals staff updates; and more.
November pdf icon[PDF – 284 KB]
Inside this issue – Updated key statistics from the National Survey of Family Growth; new data releases on teen birth, infant mortality, and provisional birth estimates; how Georgia’s new communication strategy yields data improvements; 2019 data year close-out dates; vitals staff updates and highlights, and more.
October pdf icon[PDF – 284 KB]
Inside this issue – Assessing mortality after large-scale disasters, new data brief on twin births, California’s collaboration with medical examiners and coroners on drug death data, new activities for NAPHSIS cooperative agreement, improving cause-of-death reporting by addressing R99 codes, Global CRVS team presents at conference of African ministers, and more.
September pdf icon[PDF – 284 KB]
Inside this issue – Important updates on project to modernize drug death data, list of jurisdictions awarded project funding, new web-based guidance for birth certificates, first-ever combined 2017 period/2016 cohort linked birth/infant death file, updates on 2018 mortality review process, 2019 pending records, new death certification course, and more.
August pdf icon[PDF – 607 KB]
Inside this issue – Significant improvements in data quality and processing, unprecedented response to funding opportunities, notices for jurisdictions on 2018 mortality review process, new report on trends in infant mortality, NCHS/NAPHSIS data quality workshop recap, helping Zambia evaluate mortality surveillance systems, updates on vitals staff across our nation, and more.
July pdf icon[PDF – 615 KB]
Inside this issue – New funding opportunity announcements, redesigning NCHS systems, faster close-out of 2018 final data, new process for errors 30+ days old, report on trends in routine pelvic examinations, helping Kenya’s community health workers report deaths, Reproductive Statistics Branch welcomes new chief, and more.