e-Vital Standards Initiatives

Health data standards serve as the foundation for electronic health records systems and support interoperability with public health programs and health data systems. Vital records can benefit from utilizing a nationally standardized approach to data collection that is consistent with EHR systems. Such integration of information can potentially improve public health’s ability to monitor the health of the nation and the health care system and link data in multiple ways for a healthier population. Standards also are essential for sharing and comparing data internationally.

CDC/NCHS/Division of Vital Statistics (DVS), in collaboration with the Classifications and Public Health Data Standards Staff (CPHDSS), is working with the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS), state representatives and other vital records stakeholders to develop vital records standards to enable interoperable electronic data exchanges among electronic health record systems, U.S. vital records systems and potentially other public information systems for birth, death and fetal death events. NCHS supports state pilot testing and trial implementation to promote the refinement and adoption of e-Vital Standards-based interoperability.

Capturing birth and death data in electronic health record systems; Electronic exchange using HL7 and IHE-based standards; improving the timeliness, accuracy, and completeness of vital records data.