Generating a Service That Funds Itself C Meade

Generating a Service That Funds Itself C. Meade Grigg Director, Health Statistics & Assessment State Registrar of Vital Statistics Florida Department of Health Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Objective: All services should “pay for themselves” n A tendency to focus on “new” services and sources of revenue n Traditional services may be the place to start as their general demand is already established n Determine if current services are self-supporting n Problem could be either the production process is very inefficient or the “charge” is too small n Focus on the services that are “losers” Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Turning Losers Into Winners n Increase marketing or increase access is a strategy if increased volume makes the service self-supporting n Increase marketing in: n n n Birthing hospitals Public health clinics Social Service Agencies n Birth notifications through the mail marketing birth certs Charge for programs for their public health messages included with birth notifications n Establish satelite offices n n n Large public health pediatric clinics Large birthing Hospitals DMV offices Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Turning Losers Into Winners n Making the process more efficient can turn losers into winners n n n Process re-engineering: elimination of unnecessary steps Automation of issuance process: all records on the computer so eliminate “book” copies; use of bar codes on certificates, correspondence, drivers license info to population “service requests” Raising fees may be the only answer n n Comparative analysis of what other states charge Cost analysis of what it costs you Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Marketing to Public Health Partners: Fun and Funding n Building Social Capital: Ongoing interaction and collaboration Knowledge of what services are provided by our offices n Confidence and trust in the services provided n Requires patience n Partners come to understand that they “need” your services n Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Example: Development & Enhancement of Web-Based Data Query System Florida. CHARTS. com n Limited budget and resources for upgrading and enhancement of system n Public Health Preparedness and Environmental Heath Tracking programs have need for web application to deliver there data in a variety of display formats n Community Health Assessment/Florida. CHARTS program has a need for inclusion of environmental health and emergency response planning indicators n Both grants fund staff that work on software that benefits their program and all aspects of CHARTS Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Example: File Linking and Analytical Services n Knowledge/marketing of linking services and analytical service has resulted in programs funding positions to link and analyze their data sets. n Health Statistics benefits by building a cadre of knowledgeable staff that increases our economies of scale and provides buffer when turnover occurs Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

E-Vault: “Unpaid Employee” n Development of automated death record retrieval system for user defined causes of death n Designed to save Vital Records staff labor of making “book” copies n Saves HIV/AIDS Surveillance staff time in running down copies manually in field n Resulted in HIV/Surveillance buying equipment to run the system that will serve many programs while eliminating Vital Records labor costs Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Extensions of Current Services with Lower Costs Self-Service Kiosks n Commemorative Certificates n Put indexes online & charge search fee n EVVE could be the “monster” of new services – low cost and high volume n Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009

Ideas In Case of Dire Shortfalls of Revenue and Acute Need for Humor n Raffle – for every 10 cc’s, name goes in hat for “freebie” at end of month n Install rolling snack kiosk n Tear-off divorce on marriage license – include link to e-harmony n Commemorative divorce certificate Meeting the Demands for Vital Statistics: The Challenges of Collecting, Preparing, and Promoting Baltimore, MD May 31 st – June 4 th, 2009