Headlines - Electronic Death Certification

Causes of death are a key source of epidemiological information used to assess the scope of public health issues and contribute to the public health surveillance system. The electronic certification system (with computerized data entry assistance) has been operational since 2007 and serves as an alternative to paper-based reporting. An initial epidemiological analysis of the data collected by this system at the national level is available in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin of January 10, 2012. It is reported that in 2011, nearly 5% of national deaths were certified electronically, with a heterogeneous distribution by department. It should be noted that Nièvre is among the 5 departments that had between 20% and 38% of deaths certified electronically between January and October 2010. Haute-Saône had between 10% and 20%, Côte-d'Or between 3.7% and 10%, and Doubs, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne, and Territoire-de-Belfort between 0.001% and 3.7%. Finally, Jura had never used this system. Between January and October 2010, electronically certified deaths were less frequently reported for people over 85 years of age (30% vs. 40% on paper) and were primarily reported by hospitals (84% vs. 48% via paper forms). It should be noted that 90% of death reports were available as early as the day following the death, whereas the paper reporting process requires a wait of seven days. Despite the many advantages of this system identified by both the institutions responsible for data operation and analysis and by certifying physicians, its deployment remains limited. To address certain barriers to the system’s deployment in hospitals, a new version of the web application, operational starting in 2012, will enable the electronic handling of various documents to be completed in the event of a death (organ donations, body transfers, and various formalities). For private practitioners, the main limitation lies in the difficulty of accessing a computer at the time of certifying a death.