A
Anti-Fraud Birth/Death
Common uses
- Used among one of the following qualifying identities:
- Financial institutions, as defined in Section 6827(4)(A) and (B) of Title 15 of the United States Code, its representatives or contractors
- Consumer credit reporting agencies, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 1785.3 of the Civil Code, its representatives or contractors
- Entities providing information services for purposes of law enforcement or preventing fraud.
- Officers of the court for the sole purpose of verifying a death
- Persons or entities acting on behalf of law enforcement agencies or the court, or pursuant to a court order
- Generally, not used for scientific research
Coverage
-
Anti-Fraud (Birth) contains the following variables: First, Middle, and Last Name, Sex, Date of Birth, Place of Birth (Facility, County) , and Mother's Maiden Name
-
Anti-Fraud (Death) contains the following variables: First, Middle, and Last Name, Sex, Date of Birth, Place of Birth (Country or U.S. State), Place of Death (Facility, Street Address, City, and County), Date of Death, Mother's Maiden Name, Social Security Number, and Father's Last Name
Reliability/duplicates
- Anti-Fraud data, prepared pursuant to HSC Section 102230, may not be accurate or complete due to a variety of circumstances, including amendments to the legal records that may have been filed after the production of the data files. Data files are not legal records and should not be used as substitutes for the legal records from which they were derived.
Please refer to the data source comparison charts posted on Data and Limitations for updated year availability and detailed data source descriptions.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, Data Types and Limitations, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
B
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act
The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, CA Government Code Ā§11120 - Ā§11132, requires all meetings to be open and public. All VSAC meetings are conducted in compliance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act which allows both applicants and the public to participate in the VSAC review of data requests.
Resource(s):
California Legislative Information, ARTICLE 9. Meetings [11120 - 11132], A Handy Guide to The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act 2004( PDF)
Return to the top
|
Birth Cohort
Refers to data of all live births that occurred in California (CA) in a specific year and the infants who died in the first year of life (matched to the birth). In addition, the BCF includes out of-State births to California residents, out- of-state deaths for infants who died in the first year of life, and all fetal deaths that occurred in a specific year.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
Birth data
Birth data is obtained through the Electronic Birth Registration System (EBRS). Birth certificates are generated from data collected at the birth hospital or office of the local registrar and entered into EBRS.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
Business Use Case Proposal (BUCP)
The Business Use Case Proposal (BUCP) is a data sharing agreement initiated by a Data Recipient (California State governmental agencies) to request data from a Data Provider (CDPH). A BUCP is designed for data that requires protection and cannot be freely shared across state entities. Typically this means the data faces restrictions on disclosures to other state entities under federal or state law due to privacy or security reasons.
Resource(s): IDEA Guidebook, BUCP Template
Return to the top
|
C
California Health and Human Service Agency (CHHS) Open Data Portal (ODP)
The California Health and Human Service Agency (CHHS) Open Data Portal (ODP) provides the public with non-confidential health and human service data. The Research and Analytics Branch releases data estimates to the CHHS-ODP that are considered critical to the branchās work in providing vital statistics data. CHHS-ODP provides standardized data that can be easily retrieved, combined, downloaded, sorted, searched, analyzed, redistributed and re-used by individuals, business, researchers, journalists, developers, and government to process, trend, and innovate.
CHSI Datasets on CHHS-ODP:
|
California Integrated Vital Records System (Cal-IVRS)
California Integrated Vital Records System (Cal-IVRS) is a platform designed, developed, and implemented for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) through a contract with UC San Diego. CDPH is responsible for reporting this data to National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Cal-IVRS is used by public health jurisdictions to collect data and register death certificates, fetal death certificates, and birth certificates.
Return to the top
|
California Vital Data (Cal-ViDa)
California Vital Data (Cal-ViDa) is a query tool that allows users to create custom queries using California's birth and death data. New data is added on a monthly basis. Birth data is available from 2018 onwards and death data is available from 2014 onwards. Due to differences in legacy files, no earlier data will be accessible from the application. All reports can be divided by individual years (disaggregated by year), or divided by individual month within each year (disaggregated by year and month).
Return to the top
|
Cause of Death Coding
CDPH daily transmits the registered death information to the CDC National Center for Health Statistics and Informatics (NCHS). The cause-of-death information reported on the death certificate is subsequently coded and classified using the current revision of ICD, version 10 for Mortality (ICD-10), by the CDC NCHS and sent back to CDPH.
See glossary term(s): International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD), Cause of Death
Return to the top
|
Cause of Death
Describes the disease or other morbid condition responsible for death. The cause of death section on the death certificate is used to collect information from the physician/coroner/medical examiner who certifies the cause-of-death information on the diseases and other conditions and chain of events leading directly death. For more information please see
Instructions for Completing the Cause-of-Death Section on the Death Certificate (PDF).
See glossary term(s): International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD), Cause of Death Coding
Return to the top
|
Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS)
Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) serves as the institutional review board (IRB) for
California Health and Human Services (CalHHS). The role of the CPHS (and other IRBs) is to ensure that research involving human subjects is conducted ethically and with minimal risk to participants. Review the findings of the committee for the protection of human subjects pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 102430 and make recommendations to the State Registrar regarding all requests for studies that propose to use confidential information with respect to whether a legitimate scientific interest is presented and whether the significance of the project justifies use of the confidential information.
Return to the top
|
County Health Status Profiles (Profiles)
County Health Status Profiles (Profiles) is an annually published report released in the Spring in conjunction with the California Conference of Local Health Officers (CCLHO). Presents selected public health indicators and provides California state and county data for health disparities, inequities, and areas of progress. State and county data are ranked and compared with the target rates established for Healthy People National Objectives. CDPH Programs provide data on communicable diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, and natality.
Return to the top
|
D
Data De-identification Guidelines (DDG)
Describes the procedure to be used by departments and offices in the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) to assess data for public release. These steps are intended to assist departments in assuring that data is de-identified for purposes of public release that meet the requirements of the California Information Practices Act (IPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to prevent the disclosure of personal information. As a result, tabulated data counts less than 11 may be suppressed to protect privacy, and additional suppression may be applied to complementary cells to prevent the inference of the values of suppressed cells. Agency DDG must be applied to all summarized/tabular data among all Departments and Programs within Agency that report information about individuals.
Resource(s): Data De-Identification Guidelines (DDG) (PDF)
Return to the top
|
Data Dictionary
A document that outlines the structure, content, and meaning of a given variable. This includes what type of data is being collected (e.g. free text, numerical, categorical or group data), the full wording of a question, what values are allowable (e.g. numeric ranges, multiple choice codes), and what those values mean (e.g. 0 = no high blood pressure diagnosis, 1 = borderline high blood pressure, 2 = high blood pressure). A data dictionary is a critical tool for data analysis and reproducibility.
Resource(s): Data Applications and Dictionaries, National Library of Medicine Data Dictionary
Return to the top
|
Death Data
Death data are obtained through the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS). Death certificates are generated from data entered into the EDRS at funeral homes, hospitals, coroners, or office of the local registrar.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
Dynamic Data
Dynamic data is subject to change, intended for preliminary analysis or surviellance only. Information for births and deaths among California residents is retrieved from the Electronic Birth Registry System (EBRS) and Electronic Death Registry System (EDRS). Information for births/deaths of California residents that occur out-of-state are provided by the jurisdiction of occurrence through the State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events system (STEVE).
Return to the top
|
E
Electronic Birth Registration System (EBRS) / Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS)
Secure, web-based electronic birth, death, and fetal death registration databases maintained by the State Registrar.
Return to the top
|
End of Life Option Act (EOLA)
The End of Life Option Act (EOLA) allows an adult diagnosed with a terminal disease, who meets certain qualifications, to request the aid-in-dying drugs from their attending physician. The Act requires physicians to submit specified forms and information to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). CDPH will collect data from forms submitted by physicians. Annual reports will be made pursuant to the Act and relevant privacy requirements.
Return to the top
|
F
Fetal Death
Defined as death before the complete expulsion or extraction from the mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy that is not an induced termination of pregnancy. The death is indicated by the fact that, after such expulsion or extraction, the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles. Heartbeats are to be distinguished from transient cardiac contractions; respirations are to be distinguished from fleeting respiratory efforts or gasps. California law requires all fetal deaths to be registered within eight days of the fetal death event. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is responsible for timely fetal death registrations as mandated by Health and Safety Code (HSC) Section 102950.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
H
Health Care Access and Information (HCAI)
Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) is formerly the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD). HCAI provides the State with an enhanced understanding of the structure and function of its healthcare delivery systems. HCAI also monitors the construction, renovation, and seismic safety of hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, and provides loan insurance to assist the capital needs of California's nonprofit healthcare facilities. HCAI produces datasets and data products from a variety of sources, including reports submitted to HCAI by over 8,700 licensed healthcare facilities as well as facility construction and healthcare workforce data managed in the administration of HCAI programs.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
I
Information Privacy and Security Requirements (IPSR)
Information Privacy and Security Requirements (IPSR) sets forth the information privacy and security requirements. It is required for each organization or institution where Vital Records data will be stored or accessed.
Resource(s):
Data Application Agreement Information Privacy and Security Requirements (PDF)
Return to the top
|
Information Security Office (ISO)
The mission of the Information Security Office (ISO) is to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information systems, identity, and data assets by providing proactive security expertise, creating, and maintaining a resilient and secure infrastructure, and fostering a culture of security awareness and compliance throughout the organization. This includes the core functions of security governance, policy management, training/awareness, risk assessment, regulatory compliance, incident response, and business continuity planning/recovery.
Return to the top
|
Interagency Agreement (IAA)
The Interagency Agreement (IAA) refers to an agreement between two or more state departments and is a necessary component in developing a data contract. The IAA is completed by CDPH and agreed to by the requesting state department.
Return to the top
|
International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD)
Refers to the medical classification used in epidemiology, health management and for clinical purposes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) codes all causes of death according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), using the literal text from the death certificate. CDPH daily transmits the registered death information to the CDC NCHS. The cause-of-death information reported on the death certificate is subsequently coded and classified using the current revision of ICD, version 10 for Mortality (ICD-10), by the CDC NCHS and sent back to CDPH.
See glossary term(s): Cause of Death, Cause of Death Coding
Resource(s): Instructions for Completing the Cause-of-Death Section on the Death Certificate (PDF)
Return to the top
|
L
Local Health Departments (LHD)
Local Health Departments (LHD) work with healthcare and community partners to prevent and target the cause of disease outbreaks, illness and injury and then determine the appropriate response. LHDs also work to impact social, economic and environmental factors fundamental to excellent health.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
M
Master Data
Master data is a verified, complete version of data after all updates and corrections have been applied. It is compiled from the previous year and is released in the fall of the current year. Master data is stable and not typically subject to change, making it often used for research analysis. In comparison, provisional data is less complete and prone to change as missing information is added, errors are corrected, and more accurate data updates come in. The birth and death data among California residents is retrieved from the Electronic Birth Registry System (EBRS) and Electronic Death Registry System (EDRS). Births and deaths that occur out-of-state to California residents is retrieved from the jurisdiction of occurrence through the State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events (STEVE) system.
Return to the top
|
Medical Marijuana Identification Card Program (MMICP)
The Medical Marijuana Identification Card Program (MMICP) was established to create a state-authorized medical marijuana identification card (MMIC), along with a registry database for verification of qualified patients and their primary caregivers. Participation by patients and primary caregivers in this MMICP is voluntary. The MMICP web-based registry allows law enforcement and the public to verify the validity of a qualified patient or primary caregiver's MMICP as authorization to possess, grow, transport, and/or use medical marijuana within California. 58 counties participate in the program.
Return to the top
|
Morbidity
Defined as any departure, subjective or objective, from a state of physiological or psychological well-being. In practice, morbidity encompasses disease, injury, and disability. Implemention of the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) ensures timely and accurate death certificates and, in turn, accurate morbidity data that can be used in epidemiological studies and public health evaluations used to improve health care services and programs.
Return to the top
|
Mortality
Refers to the state of being mortal (destined to die). In medicine, a term also used for death rate, or the number of deaths in a certain group of people in a certain period of time. Implemention of the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) ensures timely and accurate death certificates and, in turn, accurate mortality data that can be used in epidemiological studies and public health evaluations used to improve health care services and programs.
Return to the top
|
Multiple Causes of Death (MCOD)
Includes not only the underlying cause but also the immediate cause of death and all other intermediate and contributory conditions listed on the death certificate.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
N
Natality
Natality, also known as birth rate, is defined as the ratio of live births in an area to the population of that area; expressed per 1000 population per year. Vital statistics natality data are a fundamental source of demographic, geographic, and medical and health information on all births occurring in the United States.
Return to the top
|
O
Out of state (OOS) data
Refers to data pertaining to individuals outside of California. It is not typically used for analysis or reporting and is available for reference purposes only. This data is retrieved from State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events system (STEVE).
See glossary term(s): State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events system (STEVE)
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
P
Personal Information
Refers to any information that is maintained by CDPH that identifies or describes an individual, including, but not limited to, an individual's social security number, physical description, home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, and medical or employment history. It includes statements made by, or attributed to, the individual. California Information Practices Act ā Personal Information (PI) is defined by California Civil Code section 1798.3 and Government Code section 11015.5.
Return to the top
|
Place of Occurrence
The place where the birth/death occurred; reports based on California as the Place of Occurrence will include deaths occurring in California to a non-Californian and exclude deaths outside of California to a Californian.
Return to the top
|
Place of Residence
The place where the person giving birth or where the decedent lived; reports based on California as the Place of Residence will include births/deaths outside of California to a California resident and exclude births/deaths occurring in California to a non-Californian.
Return to the top
|
Protected Health Information (PHI)
Defined as Individuallly Identifiable Health Information that is trasmitted electronically, maintained electronically or trasmitted or maintained in any other form or medium, concerning any CDPH patient or the patient of any of healthcare provider of CDPH. HIPPA PHI (45 CFR section 160.103)
Return to the top
|
Public Use File (birth, death and marriage)
All of the birth, death, and marriage public use file data comes from information recorded on the childās birth certificate, the decedentās death certificate, and the person's marriage certificate.
Common uses
-
Used among public organizations
-
Generally not used for scientific research, but rather for legal verification such as to establish identity
Coverage
- Public Use (Birth) data contain the following variables: First, Middle, and Last Name, Sex, Date of Birth, and Place of Birth (Facility, County)
- Public Use (Death) data contain the following variables: First, Middle, and Last Name, Sex, Date of Birth, Place of Birth (Country or U.S. State), Place of Death (Facility, Street Address, City, and County), Date of Death, and Father's Last Name
- All of the birth, death, and marriage public use file data comes from information recorded on the childās birth certificate, the decedentās death certificate, or an individual's marriage certificate
Reliability/duplicates
- Public Use data, prepared pursuant to HSC Section 102230, may not be accurate or complete due to a variety of circumstances, including amendments to the legal records that may have been filed after the production of the data files
- Data files are not legal records and should not be used as substitutes for the legal records from which they were derived
Please refer to the data source comparison charts posted on Data and Limitations for updated year availability and detailed data source descriptions.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, Data Types and Limitations, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
R
Record-Level Data
A record-level datafile will have a unique row for each individual in the dataset (i.e., disaggregated data). No analysis of the dataset is provided and to obtain a table of counts a data requester will need to perform their own analysis of the data. Additionally, research applications require approval from the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS). The entire application process can take approximately 2-4 months after CDPH receives a complete application package and payment.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
Research and Analytics Branch (RAB)
Research and Analytics Branch, Data Reporting Unit compiles data for birth, death, and fetal death vital events, develops data products related to vital events, and supports public health programs by creating and delivering custom data files to end users of these data.
Return to the top
|
S
State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events system (STEVE)
A data-exchange system to allow states to exchange vital records (births and deaths).
Return to the top
|
Static Data
Refers to data that does not change over time. It acts as a reference or a guideline for other data and usually doesn't request updates or alterations frequently.
Return to the top
|
T
Tabulated Data
A tabulated datafile will provide a table of counts broken out or stratified as specified by the data requestor (i.e., aggregated data). The timeline to receive a tabulated datafile is typically faster than a record-level datafile but there are also several privacy and security requirements that must be met by requesters to obtain either kind of data. Generally, tabular applications are fulfilled within three months of receiving payment. For more information, please visit the RAB Data Applications webpage.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
U
Underlying Cause of Death (UCOD)
The initiating disease or condition, referred to as the Underlying Cause of Death, is certified by medical doctors and listed on the death certificate. It is reported to the government using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), which is the standard medical classification list of the World Health Organization (WHO).The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) codes all causes of death according to the International Classification of Diseases, version 10 for Mortality (ICD-10) using the literal text from the death certificate. Once coded, the cause of death codes are provided to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) by NCHS.
Resource(s): RAB FAQ, Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
V
Vital Records Protection Advisory Committee (VRPAC)
The California Department of Public Health, Center for Health Statistics and Informatics is required by law to maintain a Vital Statistics Advisory Committee (VSAC) and a Vital Records Protection Advisory Committee (VRPAC), respectively. CDPH combines these two committees into the VSAC, which fulfills the mandates of both committees.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
Vital Statistics Advisory Committee (VSAC)
The Vital Statistics Advisory Committee (VSAC) reviews vital statistics data applications requesting confidential birth and fetal death data to ensure existence of legitimate scientific interest and provides recommendations to the State Registrar regarding release of data. Established by Statute (Health and Safety Code 102465). Meets in compliance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
Resource(s): Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, CDPH VSA, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener
Return to the top
|
Vital Statistics Data
Refers to data derived from the registration process and includes confidential and non-confidential identifiers, demographic information, and medical/health data contained within the certificate. These data are provided by informants and clinicians; the data quality, accuracy, and completeness are dependent on the reporting parties. Vital Statistics data, prepared pursuant to Health and Safety Code (HSC) Section 102230 or 102231, may not be accurate or complete due to a variety of circumstances, including amendments to the legal records that may have been filed after the production of the data files. Data files are not legal records and should not be used as substitutes for the legal records from which they were derived.
Resource(s):
Data Types and Limitations
Return to the top
|
Vital Statistics Data Applications (VSA) Electronic Submission System xForm
The Vital Statistics Data Applications (VSA) Electronic Submission System xForm refers to the online submission, workflow, and data management system for requesting CDPH Vital Statistics data. The electronic forms provided within this system will allow requesters to submit new data requests for review and applications for continuing review. This allows the requester to follow the application through the review process. See California Code, Health and Safety Code - HSC Ā§ 102465 and California Code, Health and Safety Code - HSC Ā§ 103527 for more information.
Resource(s): VSA Tools FAQ, Vital Statistics Application xForm Screener, Vital Records Data Applications and Dictionaries, Data Types and Limitations, Data Request Guide (PDF)
Return to the top
|