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Committee recommends changes to death-certificate process, seeks to reduce family costs
Summary
The committee favorably recommended first-substitute House Bill 493 to reprogram death-certificate forms and clarify when the medical examiner is involved; sponsor said the goal is to reduce unnecessary medical-examiner reviews and unexpected costs to families.
The Senate Judiciary committee voted to favorably recommend first-substitute House Bill 493, a measure that would change how death certificates are completed and reduce unnecessary medical-examiner involvement.
Representative Ward, sponsor of HB 493, told the committee the medical examiner is being involved in an increasing share of deaths in the state — a trend that raises workload and costs for families. “It used to be only 10 percent, then 20 percent, and now it's up to over half of the deaths in the state,” Ward said, and noted an average $220 cost associated with medical-examiner reviews that can fall to families.
Ward said the bill would require the medical examiner’s office to reprogram the state’s online death-certificate form so the providers who enter cause-of-death information see guidance about which entries are likely to trigger a medical-examiner review and which entries would not. The sponsor said the change is intended to “get it right the first time” and reduce unnecessary referrals and costs.
The sponsor also said the Legislature’s cremation fee — which helps fund examiner activity — is currently among the highest in the nation and that the Executive Appropriations Committee agreed to hold the fee steady for one year while the form-change is implemented.
Senator Baldry moved that the committee recommend the bill favorably; the committee adopted the motion unanimously. The committee sent the first substitute of HB 493 to the Senate floor with a favorable recommendation.
