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Revisions of the U.S. Standard Certificates and Reports
In the years leading up to 2003, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) collaborated with colleagues in state vital statistics offices to revise the U.S. Standard Certificates of Live Birth and Death, and the U.S. Standard Report of Fetal Death. This process is conducted periodically; prior to 2003, the most recent revisions were implemented in 1989. The 2003 revisions were approved by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary (see: HHS Secretary’s notice of approval [PDF – 59 KB]) and implementation began in a few states in 2003. Because of financial and other considerations, implementation was phased in over time for the remaining states, and the birth certificate was fully implemented in all states in 2016 and the death certificate and report of fetal death in 2018.
A critical component of the recommendations for the 2003 revisions focused on fundamental changes in the way that data were collected, especially for births. Partly as a result of these recommendations, states engaged in re-engineering their vital statistics systems as they implemented the revisions.
The complex process involved in revising the content of the standard certificates and reports is described in the Executive Summary of the Report of the Panel to Evaluate the U.S. Standard Certificates and Reports [PDF – 2 MB]. Many of the documents shown below on this page have been updated to incorporate changes made during the clearance and approval processes.
2003 Revisions of the U.S. Standard Certificates and Reports
- Live Birth [PDF – 30 KB] (Rev. 11/2003)
- Death [PDF – 74 KB] (Rev. 11/2003)
- Fetal Death [PDF – 28 KB] (Rev. 11/2003)
Specifications for Collecting and Editing the U.S. Standard Certificates and Reports
The specifications for collecting and editing the U.S. standard certificates of live birth and death and the Report of Fetal Death (2003 revisions) have now been updated to reflect the changes made during the HHS clearance process as well as changes recommended by the Data Analysis Committee.
As part of the revision process, NCHS has developed sets of detailed specifications for collecting and reporting the items on the birth and death certificates and fetal death report. It is critical that all registration areas follow these standards as closely as possible to promote uniformity in data collection across registration areas. Included with the draft specifications is an overview. The overview gives the rationale behind the approaches taken to develop the specifications.
File layouts that are consistent with the final approved certificates and the code lists for race and Hispanic origin are also available.
- Specifications for Collecting and Editing the United States Standard Certificates of Birth and Death (2003 Revisions) [PDF – 211 KB]
- Specifications for Items on the Death Certificate [PDF – 1.6 MB] (Rev. 2/2005)
NOTE: The specifications now include the changes resulting from the HHS clearance process and the changes recommended by the Data Analysis Committee. For information on specific changes to the specifications, please contact dhoyert@cdc.gov or jamartin@cdc.gov. - Specifications for the Items on the Birth Certificate [PDF – 654 KB] (Rev. 7/2012)
UPDATE: The source for Item 8b “DATE OF BIRTH (MOTHER)” has been clarified: “The mother is defined as the woman who gave birth to, or delivered the infant.” (7/2012).
NOTE: The specifications now include the changes resulting from the HHS clearance process and the changes recommended by the Data Analysis Committee. For information on specific changes to the specifications, please contact jamartin@cdc.gov or dhoyert@cdc.gov. - Specifications for the Items on the Fetal Death Report [PDF – 620 KB] (Rev. 7/2012)
UPDATE: The source for Item 10b “DATE OF BIRTH (MOTHER)” has been clarified: “The mother/patient is defined as the woman who gave birth to, or delivered the infant.” (7/2012).
NOTE: The specifications now include the changes resulting from the HHS clearance process and the changes recommended by the Data Analysis Committee. For information on specific changes to the specifications, please contact jamartin@cdc.gov or dhoyert@cdc.gov. - File layouts
- Birth [PDF – 672 KB] (Rev. 1/2004) [XLS – 71 KB] (Rev. 1/2004)
- Fetal Death [PDF – 394 KB] (Rev. 1/2004) [XLS – 57 KB] (Rev. 1/2004)
- Death (demographic) [PDF – 443 KB] (Rev. 1/2004) [XLS – 35 KB] (Rev. 1/2004)
- Death (medical)
- Code Lists
- Hispanic Origin [PDF – 28 KB] [XLS – 24KB] (Rev 4/2011)
- Race [PDF – 214 KB] [XLS – 290 KB] (Rev 4/2011)
- Medical data file information
- Deletion of Data Items from the Birth and Fetal Death National Files
Worksheets
NCHS is strongly promoting the use of standard worksheets to enhance the collection of quality, reliable data. We have also developed handbooks and guides for data collection from the facility worksheets for the birth certificate and the fetal death report.
- Worksheets for the birth certificate
- Mother’s [PDF – 309 KB] (Rev. 12/2016) [DOC – 37 KB]
- Mother’s (Spanish version) [PDF – 164 KB] (Rev. 1/2004) [DOC – 73 KB]
- Facility [PDF – 272 KB] (Rev. 12/2016) [DOC – 85 KB]
- Facility – for Multiple Births [PDF – 277 KB] (Rev. 12/2016) [DOC – 65 KB]
- Worksheets for the fetal death report
- Patient’s [PDF – 100 KB] (Rev. 8/2019) [DOC – 57 KB]
- Patient’s (Spanish version) [PDF – 135 KB] (Rev. 1/2004) [DOC – 115 KB]
- Facility [PDF – 144 KB] (Rev. 8/2019) [DOC – 71 KB]
Letters
A number of communications have been transmitted by the Division of Vital Statistics to state registration colleagues since late 2000 concerning the implementation of the revised certificates. See: Letters from the Division of Vital Statistics (DVS) to States.