Electronic death records system improves service, provides data security

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By Mark Salley

Special to The SUN

The Vital Records Office of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is nearing completion of the $1 million project that provides data security while making death certificates easier for family members to obtain. Prior to the new electronic system, an immediate family member in one part of Colorado might have had to travel to a county where the death occurred in another part of the state to obtain a death certificate.

With the new system, local vital records offices serving all 64 counties in Colorado will be electronically linked and able to provide certificates for deaths that occurred in other counties.

“Prior to this system, paperwork was hand carried from funeral home to physician to family member to vital records office before a final certificate could be issued,” said State Registrar Ron Hyman. “We estimate the system will allow family members to get death records in half the time as the old system. We expect to cut the time for processing and producing death certificates from an average of 10 days to five days.”

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