ANGOLA — A new records system employed by the Indiana State Department of Health is causing some delays and other issues for people who have lost family members to death.
Funeral directors and their association are pointing the finger of blame at the state. The state, on the other hand, is saying the problem lies with doctors across the state who have yet to register in the new system in order to be able to sign off death certificates.
The State Department of Health says the new system was put in place because an earlier system was out of date. The problems are not related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the deaths associated with it, which increased to 9,317 on Saturday.
“Indiana has implemented a new vital records system called DRIVE, which uses a platform built and hosted by VitalChek, because the previous system was a decade old and no longer had the functionality required to meet the state’s needs. The new system offers greater security and functionality,” said Megan Wade-Taxter, a spokeswoman for the state health department.
Funeral directors are blaming the new system for problems they are experiencing. Blame is being shared with doctors, too.
“We are having multiple problems, and only about half of our death certificates can be or have been completed, the others are stuck in the system. We have had to have the Allen County, Steuben County and Noble County coroners sign releases for us, so that our cremation families can have a timely cremation completed. In Indiana you must file the death certificate before a cremation can take place,” said Jon Thornton of Beams Funeral Home, Fremont.
The Indiana Coroners Association has declared the problem a public health emergency, and the Indiana Funeral Directors Association is also working to clear up problems with the state, said Brian DeCamp of Hite Funeral Home, Kendallville, and Northern Indiana Funeral Care, Fort Wayne.
“This process has not gone well. We are finding many doctors are not registered in the new system, and getting them to do so at the time of need has not been effective or gone smoothly. It is very time-consuming and stressful. Here’s the deal, doctors, coroners and funeral homes knew this was coming! We all have had plenty of time to get registered. Some doctors don’t care and didn’t take it seriously. So now we have a huge backlog,” DeCamp said.
Of course, this has caused all sorts of problems for families, with delays with cremations and other matters that come with putting a family member to rest.
“So now we have a huge backlog (and) added stress for grieving families needing a legal death certificate to process life insurance, titles, deeds, bank accounts, etc. etc.,” DeCamp said.
“This is very upsetting to the families we serve, because we cannot get them a certified death certificate in order for them to do business, file for insurance claims, or transfer monies. And in some instances we cannot be paid, as a death certificate is needed to file an assignment with the insurance company,” said Kathy Young of Young Family Funeral Home of Kendallville, Wolcottville and Hudson.
“This has been declared a health emergency by the Indiana State Coroners Association, so they have stepped in to help provide us with a way to have these cremations completed. In the interim, we have several families that are needing death certificates and we cannot provide them due to the system errors. We have completed some, and others cannot be completed,” Thornton said.
In the way the DRIVE system works, Young explained, a chain of entities all have to contribute toward getting electronic paperwork completed, and if errors or omissions occur, the process fails.
“Through the DRIVE system, we input information about the decedent and forward it on to the doctor to sign and file with the county health department where death occurred. We are finding that in many instances we cannot send the death certificate on to the doctor, or the doctor is unable to complete their portion, or we cannot have the funeral director affirm that the information is correct. And, if a doctor was not able to complete the death certificate prior to closing the (old) system on Dec. 31, we are finding that this information did not transfer to the new DRIVE system correctly, and it is in limbo,” Young said.
Wade-Taxter, the spokeswoman, said there has been plenty of time for all parties to get trained and up to speed with the new system.
“The system has been developed over the past year, and we have offered multiple trainings since last summer to help physicians get registered and guide funeral directors and coroners through the process. The main issue people are having is that despite the trainings, only about 27% of physicians who need to sign off on death certificates have registered for the system. We are providing 24-hour approval of accounts and continue to provide additional training and resources while we work to resolve the issues,” she said.
“We also have issued guidance to coroners, local health departments and funeral directors to ensure that they are able to move forward with funeral arrangements with families so that there are no delays,” Wade-Taxter continued.
Thornton said getting help from the state has been difficult.
“We are looking at refiling new duplicate death certificates for these stuck in the system, starting tomorrow. I am not sure this will work, but we are out of options as the state, or the Indiana Death Registration officials, are not responding to our request for help at all. They are overloaded with errors and requests from funeral homes and health departments and doctors requesting help,” Thornton said.
The Indiana Funeral Directors Association is working with the state to try to correct problems.
In an email message to its members, a spokesman for the association said, “I want to reiterate this point ... IFDA was in no way included in the design of this train wreck ... but we are now being sought to fix it.
“Please be aware that IFDA is making every effort to assist you in getting DRIVE to work. However, it is not as simple as writing a new batch of code ... that would be the easy part.”
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