title: Are Birth Certificate and Hospital Discharge Linkages Performed in 52 Jurisdictions in the United States?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the number and characteristics of US State Registrars of Vital Statistics (Vital Registrars) and State Systems Development Initiative (SSDI) Coordinators that link birth certificate and hospital discharge data as well as using linkage processes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Vital Registrars and SSDI Coordinators in all 52 vital records jurisdictions (50 states, District of Columbia, and New York City) were asked to complete a 41-question survey. We examined frequency distributions among completed surveys using SAS 9.3.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 100% (N = 52) for Vital Registrars and 96% (N = 50) for SSDI Coordinators. Nearly half of Vital Registrars (n = 22) and SSDI Coordinators (n = 23) reported that their jurisdiction linked birth certificate and hospital discharge records at least once in the last 4 years. Among those who link, the majority of Vital Registrars (77.3%) and SSDI Coordinators (82.6) link both maternal and infant hospital discharge records to the birth certificate. Of those who do not link, 43% of the Vital Registrars and 55% of SSDI Coordinators reported an interest in linking birth certificate and hospital discharge data. Reasons for not linking included lack of staff time, inability to access raw data, high cost, and unavailability of personal identifiers to link the two sources.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of our analysis provide a national perspective on data linkage practices in the US. Our findings can be used to promote further data linkages, facilitate sharing of data and linkage methodologies, and identify uses of the resulting linked data.
authors.affiliation: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE MS K-23, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA. skim1@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Shin Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Health Statistics and Research, National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems, Silver Spring, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Sukhjeet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.affiliation: Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stampfel
authors.affiliation: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE MS K-23, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA.
authors.forename: Dhelia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Williamson
mesh_terms: D001719:Birth Certificates; D005260:Female; D006753:Hospital Records / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014798:Vital Statistics
keywords: Birth certificate; Hospital discharge; Linkage; Survey