The Nation s Need for a Great Vital Statistics

The Nation’s Need for a Great Vital Statistics System Jennifer Madans National Center for Health Statistics

NCHS’ 50 th Anniversary • 1960: Vital Statistics and the national health care surveys come together to form NCHS • The vision then: the nation needs health statistics that go from birth to death and cover everything in between • The vision now: the nation needs health statistics that go from birth to death and cover everything in between (just faster!)

We’re excited! • Historic opportunity to strengthen the National Vital Statistics System • We’ve been meeting with NAPHSIS to improve the VSCP and the National System • NCHS, NAPHSIS and the jurisdictions will all benefit

Rebuilding the Partnership to Build the System • Major thanks to Steve for perseverance his vision and • Major thanks to Garland, Isabelle, Linette, Trish, Charlie, Chuck, Delton and Rajesh for committing to rebuilding • Not only can we get from Good to Great – we can establish a solid foundation for future greatness

The Nation’s Need for Timely and Accurate National Data • Vital Statistics are the cornerstone of a comprehensive set of data collection activities to monitor the Nation’s health • All developed countries have them • All countries that do not – want them • Now, more than ever, data are critical for decision-making in this era of health reform

Vital Statistics Data are of Critical Importance to… • Federal statistical community: Used by Census Bureau to calculate population estimates used by all agencies • Department of HHS: Used to set and track objectives for Healthy People and other initiatives • Other Public and Private Sector users: For planning & evaluation & myriad of uses

What NCHS is needs to meet constituent’s needs • Comparable data – without it there is no national data system • Timely data releases • High data quality including improved documentation of data quality evaluations • User friendly data access (within statutory and policy constraints)

How do we get there? • Build systems • At all levels of the partnership (jurisdictions, NAPHSIS and NCHS) • For all aspects of the process (collection, editing, processing, analysis and release) • Institutionalize best practices

NCHS is Committed to Going from Good to Great • Strengthening the partnership with NAPHSIS and jurisdictions • Dedicating increased personnel and monetary resources to the effort • Ed will talk more later about how the President’s 2011 budget request positions us to do even more

The Beginnings of Greatness • Even as we build, there are some real accomplishments that we should tell the world about --Steve’s sparklies • These address the overarching objectives of timeliness, quality, utility and systems developments

The Beginnings of Greatness • Timeliness • Preliminary 2009 natality report released in December 2010 • Preliminary 2009 mortality report released in December 2010 • Selected Indicators released quarterly: Estimates for Jan – March 2011 released July 2011

The Beginnings of Greatness • Data quality • Institutionalize actions to improve quality: training, best practices • Ongoing evaluation of items and publishing findings • Quality control early and often

The Beginnings of Greatness • System Improvement • Best practices and standards to improve quality, accountability • Indicators to measure process and improvement • Practices to respond to unexpected constraints • Automate what can be automated as early in the process as possible

The Beginnings of Greatness • Building for the future • Support projects that push the envelope • Fact and cause of death sent daily from participating states • Surveillance projects with participating states • Increase awareness of the system as well as the data • Best practices/certification of systems

The First Sparklies • Data briefs • Are preterm births on the decline in the US? • International Ranking • Death in the United States, 2007