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For Immediate Release
Monday, August 2, 2004
STATE VITAL RECORDS OFFICE RECEIVES NATIONAL
PERFORMANCE AWARD
DENVER – The Office of Vital Statistics at the Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment has received an exceptional
performance award from the National Center for Health Statistics for the
quality and timeliness of the Colorado birth and death records and of the
fetal death data that it maintains.
The Colorado office received the national recognition
after being ranked fourth out of 57 jurisdictions that were evaluated in
29 categories relating to the quality of their birth and death records.
The 57 jurisdictions include states; United States
territories; the District of Columbia; and New York City.
Noting that this is the first time that the Colorado
Office of Vital Statistics has received such an award, Ron Hyman,
Colorado’s state registrar, said, “This award reflects the excellence and
hard work of the dedicated staff of the Colorado Vital Statistics Program
and of our partners in local public health offices and at hospitals
throughout the state.”
The office each year receives and records 70,000 new birth records; 30,000
new death records; and 500 new fetal death records each year. The majority
of the birth records are submitted by hospitals while mortuaries submit
the majority of death certificates. These new records are maintained along
with copies of birth certificates for all people born in Colorado in 1910
when state registration of births became mandatory. Death records have
been maintained in the state since 1900.
Local public health offices throughout Colorado also
receive birth certificates for home births; death certificates; and fetal
deaths reports for events occurring in their jurisdictions and submit
those records to the state Office of Vital Statistics, the central
repository for all Colorado’s birth and death records.
The local public health offices and the state office issue
certified copies of these documents to the public.
Hyman accepted the award on behalf of Colorado at the
recent joint annual meeting of the National Center for Health Statistics
and the National Association of Public Health Statistics and Information
Services in Portland, Oregon.
Hyman explained that each state is required to submit such
records to the center, which uses them to monitor the health of the
country. The records include such information as cause of death and the
birth weight of babies, which can be used to calculate the number of low
birth-weight babies born in a state or across the nation.
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