Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) Webinar: Guidance for Certifying Deaths Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Monitoring the emergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and guiding public health response requires accurate and timely mortality data. Mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) is a key source of information on causes of death. These data are derived from information reported on death certificates. Death certificates are one of the few sources of health-related data that are comparable for small geographic areas and are available over a long time period in the United States. The data are used to examine the characteristics of those dying in the United States, calculate life expectancy, compare mortality trends with other countries, and more recently, to monitor deaths due to COVID-19.

To promote timely and accurate information on deaths due to COVID-19, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released a Vital Statistics Reporting Guidance document on how to certify deaths due to COVID-19. This document provides guidance to death certifiers on proper cause-of-death certification for cases where confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection resulted in death.

During this COCA Call, presenters will provide an overview of the importance of mortality data, discuss the NCHS publication and the guidance it provides to clinicians who may need to certify a death involving COVID-19, and present a summary of COVID-19 surveillance through the NVSS. View the full agenda.