FUNERAL DIRECTOR INSTRUCTIONS

FUNERAL DIRECTOR INSTRUCTIONS The purpose of this handbook is to acquaint funeral directors with the Illinois vital registration system and to provide instructions for completing an Illinois death record using the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS). If you are a funeral director that does not use the EDRS, use a typewriter or a computer to generate the Illinois Certificate of Death. If a typewriter or computer is not available, print entries in permanent black ink and make every entry legible. After you have completed the 8.5 x 14 death record and obtained all the required signatures, present the death record to the local registrar in the registration district where the death occurred. The local registrar will, at their first opportunity, input the death data from the paper record into the EDRS and issue a certified copy from the EDRS. Because statistical data derived from the death certificates can be no more accurate than the information provided on the certificate, it is very important that all persons concerned with the registration of deaths strive not only to complete registration but also to strive for accuracy and promptness in reporting these events. Creating a Death Record EDRS facilitates the death registration process by enabling participants to report and record relevant information, obtain the cause of death from the Physician or Coroner/ME and register the death via the Local Registrar using an on-line data gathering and electronic signature authorized system. Creating a death record using the Electronic Death Registration System begins with the completion of a Death Worksheet during the informant interview. Blank Death Certificate Worksheets are available for printing in EDRS under the Request menu. The following information is detailed instructions to help you when entering the death data into the EDRS and routing the death data to the other EDRS users. How to log on to the EDRS: Log on to the EDRS Enter login name and password in the applicable fields and click on LOGIN

How to initiate a death record: Starting a New Death Record From the front page (shown below) Click on the FILE in the menu bar, then follow the prompt to NEW>DEATH (Click) Please DOUBLE CHECK this screen. Notice it lists the name and location of the person that is logged into the EDRS. If you have more than one location that you work at or multiple funeral homes, you need to be certain that you are logged in under the correct role. After you click on the FILE in the menu bar, and then NEW>DEATH, it will take you to the Decedent Tab (shown below)

Decedent Tab This is the first tab that you will enter the decedent data inside EDRS. This is where you will enter if the record is paper or electronic, the name of the decedent, gender, date of death, date of birth, and place of death information regarding the decedent. Paper or Electronic Field: This is the first field in EDRS. The answer to this field will determine the rest of the flow of the document. If the certifier is an EDRS user, enter a E in the field. If the certifier is not an EDRS user, enter a P in this field. If you are not certain if the certifier is an EDRS user, keep it as an E and make the change when needed. Deceased Name Field: This is one of the most important items on the certificate. It is used for proper identification of the deceased for all legal purposes. Be certain to correctly spell the present legal name in full, entering the surname last.

Religious names and titles If the informant indicates that there are two first names separated by a space, such as Mary Louise Carter, verify that Louise is part of the first name and not a middle name. Please be certain to do this for the middle and last names, too. If there is a title preceding the name, such as Doctor, do not enter the title in any of the name fields. For religious names such as Sister Mary Lawrence, enter Sister Mary in the first name field. No first or middle names (infants) If a name such as Baby Boy Watts is obtained from medical records for the death of a newborn, check with the parents or other informant to see if the child has a given name. If the child has not been given a name, leave the first and middle name field s blank and enter only the surname. Alias Field: It is permissible to show aliases and other legal names of the decedent if they are substantially different from the legal name. For example, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, AKA Mark Twain, but not Jonathon Smith, AKA John Smith. When an alias is needed, enter a Y in the alias field. You can then do one of two things. After you have entered the name of the decedent, date of death and date of birth, you can save without edits or you can complete all of the death data except for the COD and save the record. Once the record is saved, and you have the record pulled up in EDRS, go to File > New > Alias and this will open up a new field for you to type the alias of the decedent. Once you have typed the alias name, save the record and the alias name is automatically linked to the decedent s death record. You can add up to 3 alias names per record. When certified copies of this record are issued, the decedents name will appear in the legal name field and the alias names will appear near the bottom of the certified copy.

Here is a screen shot of an Alias that was linked to the original death record: Sex of Decedent Field: Enter M for male or F for female. Verify the entry of the sex to the given name of the decedent. In the case of an infant where the sex cannot be determined enter a U, for unknown. Also, in the case of skeletal remains, if the sex cannot be determined after inspection of the body, enter a U for unknown. Date of Death Known Field: The answer to this field will determine which of the next two fields opens up in EDRS and also what will print on the certified copies of the death record. For the majority of all deaths you will enter a Y for yes. This will take you to the next field where you will enter the exact month, day, and year that the death occurred. Enter the two digit month, two digit day and four digit year. Do not spell the month; enter the corresponding numeric value for the month. Pay particular attention to the entry of the month, day, and year when the death occurs around midnight, near the end of the month or near the beginning and end of the year. Consider a death that occurred at midnight to be the end of one day rather than the beginning of the next day. If the date of death is not known, enter an N in the Date of Death Known? field. This will grey out the first date of death field and open the Decedent Found field. You will enter the date the remains were found. Also, note that when a certified copy of the death record is printed, it will print Date Found on the certificate instead of Date of Death.

Date of Birth Field: Enter the month, day and year of birth. Use all four digits of the year. Please note that based on what you enter for the date of death and the date of birth, the EDRS will automatically calculate the age and enter it into the Age and Age Unit fields. Age and Age Unit Fields: Based on your entry for the date of birth and the date of death, EDRS will calculate the age and age unit. If the decedent is less than one year of age, the UNDER 1 YEAR OF AGE fields will open and you will need to type in the applicable months, days, hours or minutes. Specify the age in months and/or days only (e.g., 1 month 2 days). When more than one day, but less than one year, do not complete the hours and minutes. Enter information into the hours and minutes fields only when the infant is less than one day old. Specify age in hours and/or minutes. Do not round up (e.g., 55 minutes to 1 hour). Place of Death Information: The place of death fields are tied to one another. Depending on what you choose for each one will depend on what is available in the next field. Place of Death Field: This is automatically populated with Illinois. This cannot be changed because the EDRS is for Illinois deaths only. County of Death Field: All 102 counties are in the county of death drop down menu. Choose the applicable county of death from the drop down menu. You can also type the first few letters of the county of death and the drop down will populate the county you typed. Once you have the county of death listed, hit tab and you will move to the next field. City Field: Based on the county of death that you picked, only the cities known to be in that county will be populated in the city drop down. In other words if the death occurred in Joliet and you picked Cook County as the county of death, Joliet will not be in the city drop down menu. If the city you have picked is not listed, first double check your county of death. If the county of death is incorrect, make the necessary change. If the county of death is correct, choose other in the city drop down. This will open the next field for you to type the name of the city or township. Place of Death: Enter the place where the death occurred. If the person died in a facility you will have 7 choices in the Place of Death drop down menu. The choices are; Dead on Arrival, Decedent s Home, Emergency Room/Outpatient, Hospice Facility, Inpatient, Nursing Home/Long Term Care Facility, and Other. Choose from one of these choices. Your choice in this section will determine what facilities populate in the next field. If none of them apply, use the choice of other. If you choose Inpatient, the Facility Name field will open up and you can pick the name of the facility. When you pick the name of the facility, it will automatically enter the address information and take you to the Decedent History tab. If the name of the facility is not in the drop down, you will chose other and this will open the next field for

you to type the name of the facility and to then type the address of the facility. If the place of death was not in a facility and you picked other the field next to the place of death field will open up for you to type the name of the place of death. For example, the death occurred on the highway. You will choose other and then type the location of the death. Note that if you choose other, EDRS will lock you out of the facility name fields because they do not apply. If the person died at their residence you will choose Decedent s Home. If the residence or place of death is in an unincorporated area, you will enter the appropriate township in the city/town of occurrence field. For example, the decedent died at their residence that is located at 10750 Hobbs Road, Rochester, IL, which is an unincorporated area within Cooper Twp in Sangamon County. For occurrence fields in the place of death you will choose: County of Death; Sangamon. City of Death; Other and type in Cooper Township. You will then choose Decedent s Home in the place of death field and then type 10750 Hobbs Road in the address field. If the place of death is unknown but the body is found in a specific city in your county, enter the location where the body was found. If the death occurred on a moving conveyance (car, ambulance, etc.), whether or not en route to a hospital, enter the place where the body is first removed from the conveyance. The geographic location information of where the body is removed from the conveyance must be entered into the place of death fields. When you enter the address of the place of death, the EDRS has a real time geo-coding software system that will check the address you have entered with its database. In the event the geo-coding software does not recognize the address that you entered you will receive a prompt (see below) from the EDRS indicating that the address could not be located by the geo-coding. This does not mean that the address you entered is wrong. It is just a prompt to indicate that the address entered could not be matched to a known address in the geo-coding system. Please double check the address and if you have entered it correctly, choose no and continue with entering the death data.

Decedent History Tab Country of Birth Field: The country of birth, state of birth and city of birth fields are all tied together. When United States is in the Country of Birth field, only the states within the United States will appear in the State of Birth drop down. Also, once you choose a state, only the cities within that state will show in the city drop down. The country of birth is defaulted to the United States; however, this can be changed when applicable. If the decedent was born in the United States, go to the State of Birth field and choose the state from the drop down. Once you have picked the state of birth, go to the City of Birth field and select the city from the drop down menu. If the decedent was not born in the United States, change United States to the country of birth. Depending on the country of birth, EDRS will open or close the State of Birth and City of Birth fields. If you select a country of birth and the rest of the place of birth information is blocked from entering data, this is not an error. Continue to the next open field.

If the deceased is known to have been born in the United States, but the city is not known, enter the name of the state only. If the state is unknown, enter Unknown. In the state of birth field. If the deceased is known to have been born in a foreign country, but the country is unknown, enter Unknown in the Country of Birth field. If Canadian, please specify Province in the State field. Social Security Number field: EDRS has a live interface with the Social Security Administration. It is very important that you enter the complete and accurate Social Security Number (SSN) of the deceased. If the number is not known, or if the deceased did not have a Social Security number enter all 9 s. (999-99-9999) Entering all 9 s will allow the record to be registered and an invalid SSN will not be flagged by the Social Security Administration. It will also prevent a negative response from the Social Security Online Verification System. Do not enter a number that did not actually belong to the deceased. Note: when 999-99-9999 is entered into the EDRS, the box on the certified copy will not print any information. It will be left blank. Marital Status: There are 6 choices in the marital status drop down. They are: Married, Married but Separated, Widowed, Divorced, Never Married, and Unknown. Check the marital status that applied to the deceased at the time of death. You may choose only one. If you do not know, select Unknown. If you select Married or Married but Separated, EDRS will open the fields for you to type the name of the surviving spouse. If you select any of the other choices, the surviving spouses name fields will be grayed out and blocked from entry. If the decedent was married at the time of death, enter the full name of the surviving spouse. If the surviving spouse is the wife, enter her full name prior to her first marriage. US Armed Services Field: If the deceased was ever in a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, enter a Y for yes or an N for No. A branch of the U.S. Armed Service includes the National Guard and the Reserve. If this information is not known, enter a U for Unknown. There is an edit on this field that relates to the age of the decedent. If the decedent is under the age of 10, and you state that the decedent was in the armed services, you will receive an error message to either re-key the field or override the edit. Residence Fields: The residence of the decedent is the place where the decedent actually resided or where the person lives and sleeps most of the time. The place of residence is not necessarily the same as home state or legal residence. Never enter a temporary residence, such as one used during a visit, business trip, or vacation. Place of residence

during a tour of military duty or during attendance at college is considered permanent and should be entered as the place of residence. If the decedent had been living in a facility where an individual usually resides for a long period of time, such as a group home, mental institution, nursing home, penitentiary, or hospital for the chronically ill, please refer to the family to what address they would prefer. If the decedent was an infant who never resided at home, the place of residence is that of the parent(s) or legal guardian. Never use an acute care hospital s location as the place of residence for any infant. On the paper death record the residence fields have been divided into seven categories, and in EDRS, each category is tied to one another. If you inadvertently enter the wrong county of residence, you will not be able to find the correct city in the city drop down or the correct zip code. Please be certain to check your selections. The Country of residence is defaulted to United States; however this may be changed when applicable. Select the state of residence, then the county, then the city. Again, note that these fields are tied to each other and if you pick Illinois as the state of residence, only the 102 counties in Illinois will be in the drop down menu for county of residence. After you have selected the state of residence, select the city of residence. If the city of residence is not found in the drop down and you are certain that the state and county is correct, choose other as the city of residence. This will open up the next field for you to type the name of the city. Then type the address of the residence. If the zip code is not in the table, select other and type the zip code. When you enter the residence address the geo-coding software system will check the address you have entered with its database. In the event the geo-coding software does not recognize the address that you entered you will receive a prompt (see below) from the EDRS indicating that the address could not be located by the geo-coding. This does not mean that the address you entered is wrong. It is just a prompt to indicate that the address entered could not be matched to a known address in the geo-coding system. Please double check the address and if you have entered it correctly, choose no and continue with entering the death data. As you know, formerly, township information was collected in both occurrence and residence fields on the death certificate when the decedent died and/or resided in an unincorporated area. The township information was used for statistical purposes. As part of the EDRS, geo-coding is used to assign the exact location that we will need for statistical purposes. Therefore, for residence, we no longer want the township when a person resided in an unincorporated area. We want the city of mailing for the physical

location of their residence in this field. Do not enter Post Office Box information in this field. If the person did not live in an apartment, leave the apartment box blank. Inside City Limits Yes or No: Enter Yes if the residence was INSIDE the limits of the city or town. Enter No if the residence was OUTSIDE the city limits of the city or town. If Canadian residence, please specify Province instead of State. Multiple residences If the decedent lived in more than one residence (parent living in a child s household, children in joint custody, person owning more than one residence, or commuters living elsewhere while working), enter the residence lived in most of the year. Parents Fields: Enter the full name of the deceased s father and mother. If the name of the father or mother is not known, leave the first and middle name field s blank and enter Not Available in the last name field only. If the father s last name is different than the name of the decedent you will receive an error indicating that they two names are different. This prompt is just to let you know that there is a difference in the names. If they should be the same, check which one is spelled incorrectly and make the correction. If the decedent s last name and that of the father has been typed correctly, you can override the edit and continue entering the death data. For the mother s name, enter the full name used prior to her first marriage, commonly known as the maiden name. Informant Fields: This item is specifically required by law and must be a person s name; it CANNOT be an institution name or medical records. Also, since the informant information may be used to query data on the death record, it CANNOT be the decedent. (In the event you have completed a pre-need contract, please enter your name as the informant and relationship as funeral director.) Enter the relationship of the informant to the decedent. Such as Spouse, Son, Daughter, Uncle. If none of the choices in the drop down menu apply, select other and type the information in the open field. Then type the complete mailing address of the informant. Like all the other state, county and city fields, the state, city and zip code fields are tied together, so please take notice when selecting.

Disposition Tab Method of Disposition Fields: There are 5 choices in the method of disposition drop down menu. They are: Burial, Cremation, Donation, Entombment and Other. Your selection in this box will determine which burial and disposition permits will be generated and available for printing when required, so be certain to select the correct disposition. For example, when cremation is selected, the VR 204.1 and VR 205 will be completed by the EDRS. When you save the death record, the medical examiner/coroner will be notified of the death by way of EDRS and they will use EDRS to authorize your printing of the permits. If you select burial and the family changes to cremation, you will need to change this field so the proper permits can be generated and completed. If the body is to be used by a hospital or a medical or mortuary school for scientific or educational purposes, check Donation and specify the name and location of the institution. Donation refers to the entire body, not to individual organs. If other is checked, enter the type of disposition on the line provided.

Once you have selected the disposition, select the cemetery or crematory or other location. If the name of the cemetery, crematory or other location is not in the drop down, select other and type the name of the cemetery, crematory or other place of disposition in the open field. If the body is removed from Illinois, select the state or country of disposition and complete the other required fields. Enter the name of the city, town and state where the place of disposition is located. If the body is to be used by a medical or mortuary school, for scientific or educational purposes, enter the name of the city, town and state where the institution is located. Disposition Date: Enter the date of the initial disposition. Enter the month, day, and year (01-02-2009) that the disposition occurred/will occur. Funeral Home Information Fields: When using EDRS, these fields will be automatically completed with the name and address that is linked to your login identification and password. For each death that occurs in Illinois, a death certificate must be filed by an Illinois licensed funeral director. Only Illinois Licensed Funeral Directors can access EDRS and when a paper death record is filed with the local registrar, they will be required to enter the funeral directors name and Illinois license number into the EDRS. There is a live interface with the professional regulations and EDRS will check to see if the license is valid and current. If not, the record cannot be accepted for filing.

Certifier Tab The certifier tab is where the certifier will be assigned and other items specific to the death will be entered. Such as, if the record is a Medical Certificate of Death or a temporary or permanent Medical Examiner/Coroner Certificate of Death. The first field is the Certifier Type. This is where you will select if the certifier was the Medical Examiner/Coroner, Physician in Attendance or Physician in Charge. Physician in Charge means that they were the physician in charge of the patients care at the time of death. (box 1 in item 41 on the paper death record) Physician in Attendance means that they were the physician in attendance at the time of death only. (box 2 in item 41 on the paper death record) The funeral director or hospital staff entering the death data will choose one of the 3 choices in Certifier Type box. If it is not known by you at the time you are entering the initial data regarding the decedent, choose Physician in Attendance. The physician can change this if it is incorrect. If the physician participates in EDRS, select their name from the drop down menu on the Name field. If the physician does not participate in EDRS, type other in the Name field. Typing other will open up the next field and

allow you to type the name of the physician, their license number if known, and their address. If the Medical Examiner/Coroner is the certifier, they more than likely participate in EDRS and you will select their name from the Name drop down menu. Selecting their name will auto-populate the rest of the applicable data. You will then need to select if the record is a temporary or a permanent certificate. You may also enter the time of death and, in the case of a physician certifying the death, choose the applicable certifier statement. After the physician certifier contact information is completed, either by selecting a certifier from the drop down menu or by selecting other and typing the information, enter a Y for Yes or an N for No to the Attend the Deceased field. If an N is entered into this field, EDRS will gray out the Date Last Seen Alive field and move you to the time of death field. If a Y is entered, the Date Last Seen Alive field will require a date. Also note that the certificate type is also grayed out as all certificates where the certifier is a physician will default to Medical. You can now choose one of the two certifier statements. Irrespective of which one is selected, Physician will print on the death record. Cause of Death (COD) Tab:

EDRS limits access to certain parts of the record for all users. Only a certifier with login and passwords rights to EDRS has access to the COD fields. The COD is locked out to funeral directors. Instructions related to this tab are found in the certifier handbook and the faxed attestation handbook. Demographics Tab: Information entered into the EDRS on the DEMOGRAPHICS tab are for statistical use only and will not appear on the certified copy of the death certificate. Education Field: Select the highest level of education that the decedent completed from the drop down menu. Count formal education only. Do not include beauty, barber, trade or technical schools when determining the highest grade completed. Hispanic Ethnicity Fields: If the decedent was not of Hispanic Ethnicity, type an N for No. Typing an N will result in EDRS graying out the non applicable fields and move you to the next applicable field in the Race section of the Demographics tab. If the decedent was of Hispanic Ethnicity, type a Y for Yes. Typing a Y will result in EDRS opening the Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Other fields. You must select from one of these choices by entering a Y in the applicable field. If the decedent was

Puerto Rican, enter an N in both the Mexican and Cuban box and enter a Y in the Puerto Rican field. With respect to this item, Hispanic refers to people whose origins are from Spain, Mexico, or the Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands or countries of Central or South America. Origin includes ancestry, nationality, and lineage. There is no set rule about how many generations are to be taken into account in determining Hispanic origin; it may be based on the country of origin of a parent, grandparent, or some far-removed ancestor. Although the prompts include the major Hispanic groups, other groups may be specified under other. Other may also be used for decedents of multiple Hispanic origins (e.g., Mexican-Puerto Rican). This information is needed to identify health problems in a large minority population in the United States and help target public health resources. Race Fields: Check appropriate box or boxes. Indicate the race of the decedent as stated by the informant. American Indian and Alaska Native refer only to those native to North and South America (including Central America) and does not include Asian Indian. Please specify the name of enrolled or principal tribe (e.g., Navajo, Cheyenne, etc.) for the American Indian or Alaska Native. For Asians, check Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or specify other Asian group; for Pacific Islanders, check Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, or specify other Pacific Island group. If the decedent was of more than one race, check each race box as indicated by the informant (e.g., Samoan-Chinese-Filipino or White, American Indian). Race is essential for identifying specific mortality patterns and leading causes of death among different groups. It is also used to determine if specific health programs are needed in particular areas and to make population estimates. Occupation Field: Enter the usual occupation of the decedent. This is not necessarily the last occupation of the decedent. Never enter retired. Give kind of work decedent did during most of his or her working life, such as claim adjuster, farmhand, coal miner, janitor, store manager, college professor, or civil engineer. If the decedent was a homemaker at the time of death but had worked outside the household during his or her working life, enter that occupation. If the decedent was a homemaker during most of his or her working life, and never worked outside the household, enter homemaker. Enter student if the decedent was a student at the time of death and was never regularly employed or employed full time during his or her working life. Kind of Business or Industry: Kind of business to which the occupation is related, such as insurance, farming, coal mining, hardware store, retail clothing, university, or government. Do NOT enter firm or organization names. If decedent was a homemaker as indicated in the occupation field, then enter either own home or someone else s home as appropriate. If decedent was a student as indicated in the occupation field, enter type of school, such as high school or college.

Complete Tab There are 6 fields that are applicable to the funeral director on the complete tab. They are the fields related to printing certificates, the funeral director s name, license number, complete and sign. Your login user name and password will determine what information is auto-populated in the Funeral Director and Funeral Director License Fields. When you are ready to route the death date to the certifier you will enter Y in the complete field. You will enter an N in the signed field. The reason for this is that the Y is needed to route the data to the certifier so they may complete their area of responsibility. The N is needed so that when the certifier is finished you can still edit the death data if needed. Once you place a Y in the signed field, you cannot edit the data any longer unless the record is rejected back to you from the local registrar prior to them registering the record. Once you have completed all sections of the death data and the COD is completed, type a Y in the signed field and save the record. Doing so will route the record to the local registrar so they may accept the record for filing.

As mentioned earlier, based on the type of disposition, EDRS will initiate the required disposition permits. Funeral directors, local registrars and medical examiner/coroner will be able to authorize and print the applicable permits from the EDRS. Revised 9-2-08