Death Certificates now online; paper certificates OK through May 1
As of Jan. 1, all death certificates in North Carolina must be submitted online via the state’s new electronic death registration portal.
If you are a clinician who signs death certificates, or who may need to sign them in future, register now to ensure access to the NC Database for Vital Events (NC DAVE). The account request process takes just a minute or two to complete. Under state law, physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners may certify deaths. Individuals who sign death certificates are referred to as “medical certifiers”.
The NC Office of Vital Records has notified NCMB that clinicians who have been identified as high-volume medical certifiers will receive priority and should have full access to NC DAVE by the Jan 1 deadline. Clinicians who have been deemed mid- or low-volume certifiers may have to wait a little longer. Vital Records estimates these certifiers will have full acesss by Feb. 1. Vital records announced in late February that it will accept paper death certificates through May 1, 2022.
The state rolled the NC DAVE system out on a pilot basis statewide over the past year. Some medical certifiers are using the online system, but state officials are concerned that many still are not aware of NC DAVE and may not be ready.
The online NC DAVE system is intended to make the process of certifying deaths faster, easier and more accurate. The Web-based system incorporates time savers such as built-in error checking and real-time verification of the decedent’s Social Security Number and is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Please direct questions about the new electronic death registration system to NC Vital Records Field Services at (919) 792-5996.
