Legislation Change Regarding Doctors and Death Records

 

This is an informational notice about a legislative bill that has passed in the Colorado General Assembly. The main points of Senate Bill 23-020, in its current form, are:   Mandate the use of EDR by physicians who sign death records. Mandate 3 business day completion by physicians, once a death record is designated. Mandate the Office of the State Registrar to provide a report to the Department of Regulatory Agencies, by a physician, regarding compliance with that timeline.   The final bill language may be viewed at https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-020. To see if or when the governor may sign the bill into law, please visit https://stateofco.secure.force.com/TFA/.   Currently, 83% of all death records are fully electronic. Should this bill become law, we are still anticipating well over 1,000 physicians to apply for an EDR account this year. In an attempt to make this process easier and more efficient, an online form is now available for use at: https://fs8.formsite.com/cohealth/VRSystemAccess/index.  This form is currently only for physicians.   We plan to provide this information directly to physicians currently signing the drop to papers. We also request that funeral establishments begin providing this document to physicians when you are providing the drop-to-paper forms. We will also provide information to physicians currently using the EDR system.   Thank you for your assistance. If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Office of the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, Field Unit, at cdphe.edr@state.co.us.