Reengineering vital registration and statistics systems for the United States.
For more than a hundred years, the United States has operated a decentralized vital statistics system as an essential component of public health. Statistics based on births and deaths registered in the United States are a primary source of data used to track health status, to plan, implement, and evaluate health and social services, and to set health policy. The national vital statistics system provides nearly complete, continuous, and comparable federal, state, and local data. The system, however, is based on outmoded vital registration practices and structures, which raises concerns about data quality, timeliness, and the lack of real-time linkage capabilities. While many organizations are working together to address these issues and have made notable achievements, questions remain to be answered. Efforts to rejuvenate the nation's vital statistics system will need to expand dramatically to provide public health with a timely, high-quality, and flexible system to monitor vital health outcomes at the local, state, and national levels.
Rothwell
Charles J
CJ
National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3311 Toledo Rd, Room 7311, Hyattsville, MD 20782-2003, USA. CRothwell@cdc.gov
D001719:Birth Certificates; D003644:Death Certificates; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D009309:National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012943:Social Security / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States; D014798:Vital Statistics