The San Benito County Sheriff’s office implemented a new,
streamlined process for issuing death certificates electronically
earlier this month as part of statewide effort to ease what can
often be a time-consuming project.
Hollister – The San Benito County Sheriff’s office implemented a new, streamlined process for issuing death certificates electronically earlier this month as part of statewide effort to ease what can often be a time-consuming project.
San Benito County became the fifth county in the state to start using the new Electronic Death Registration program in March, said Sheriff Curtis Hill. The program links the San Benito County Health Department, local funeral homes and the coroner with local doctors via the Internet and will enable residents to get signed death certificates in only couple of days, Hill said. The process used to take a month or more.
“It’s going to be implemented in all 58 counties,” Hill said. “But we are the fifth county overall and the first small county to start using the program.”
Orange, Riverside, Santa Clara and San Diego counties implemented the new program earlier this year, Hill said.
Hill said the Electronic Death Registration program would speed up the process of issuing a death certificate, a chore which can be an emotional burden on those grieving the death of a loved one.
“People can get really tied up trying to get a death certificate,” Hill said. “This streamlines the process and will really help the community.”
The program creates an electronic string of documentation by computer from funeral director to doctor to state certifier, Hill said.
Local physician Martin Bress has already used the new system, but said it doesn’t make his job any easier. Bress said doctors still have to fill out long forms detailing the patients’ medical history, treatment and cause of death.
“It helps the state get the data quicker,” Bress said. “But from our point of view it’s still the same amount of work.”
The California Center for Health Statistics uses the information to study deaths caused by everything from cancer to smoking, Bress said.
Before the program, Bress said funeral directors had to deliver from death certificates to doctors by hand. Sending the forms electronically saves time for directors, but not for doctors, he said.
Nick Sander, an assistant at Black, Cooper, Sander Funeral Home in Hollister, said his office was just starting to use the system. The goal, he said, was to get signatures from doctors quicker.
“We’re just going with the flow,” he said. “But the idea is to speed things up.”
Sander said it used to take the director about an hour to process the funeral home’s part of the paperwork.
“Now it can take about 20 minutes,” he said.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
