Report 2023-110 Recommendations
When an audit is completed and a report is issued, auditees must provide the State Auditor with information regarding their progress in implementing recommendations from our reports at three intervals from the release of the report: 60 days, six months, and one year. Additionally, Senate Bill 1452 (Chapter 452, Statutes of 2006), requires auditees who have not implemented recommendations after one year, to report to us and to the Legislature why they have not implemented them or to state when they intend to implement them. Below, is a listing of each recommendation the State Auditor made in the report referenced and a link to the most recent response from the auditee addressing their progress in implementing the recommendation and the State Auditor's assessment of auditee's response based on our review of the supporting documentation.
Recommendations in Report 2023-110: California Department of Public Health: Process Improvements Could Help Reduce Delays in Completing Fetal Death Registrations (Release Date: February 2024)
| Recommendations to Legislature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Recommendation | Status |
| 1 | To improve the average time it takes for fetal death registration statewide, the Legislature should amend state law to require hospitals, or any medical facilities where fetal deaths may occur, to initiate the creation of the fetal death certificate for any fetal deaths that occur at their facilities. In doing so, the Legislature should reaffirm that physicians, or hospital staff as their delegates, are responsible for entering the required medical information into the fetal death certificates and should clarify that physicians must sign the certificates before transferring responsibility for the next steps of certificate completion to funeral homes. |
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| 2 | To ensure the effective enforcement of fetal death registration timeliness requirements, the Legislature should amend state law to require CDPH to regularly notify the Medical Board, the Funeral Bureau, and any other relevant licensing entity, such as the Osteopathic Medical Board, of instances in which registration data indicate that physicians or funeral establishments are repeatedly failing to comply with these requirements. The notification should include the information necessary for the licensing entity to adequately investigate delinquent fetal death registrations. |
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| Recommendations to Public Health, Department of | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Recommendation | Status |
| 3 | To reduce the time that parties involved in the fetal death registration process take to notify one another that a certificate is pending action, CDPH should, by June 2024, submit a request to its registration system vendor to develop and implement in the system an electronic notification mechanism that will alert the appropriate user outside the system, such as by email, that a certificate is awaiting that user's action. |
Fully Implemented |
| 4 | To better fulfill its duty to oversee the fetal death registration process, CDPH should, by June 2024, begin to hold meetings regularly with local registrars to identify and resolve issues related to fetal death registration. CDPH should include in such meetings representatives for parties involved in the registration process—such as hospitals, physicians, and funeral homes—as well as representatives from relevant licensing entities—such as the Medical Board and the Funeral Bureau—to obtain additional perspectives about ongoing causes for delays. |
Fully Implemented |
| 5 | To better ensure the effectiveness of its help desk, CDPH should, beginning in June 2024, periodically survey local registrars to solicit feedback on their experience with the help desk and should use this feedback to improve help desk processes as necessary. |
Fully Implemented |
| 6 | To mitigate registration delays and ensure that all hospitals and funeral homes with a responsibility to complete their portions of fetal death certificates are able to rapidly fulfill their obligations, CDPH should, by June 2024, notify hospitals and funeral homes that lack access to its registration system for fetal deaths of their legal obligations in the fetal death registration process and provide instructions on how to access the data system used to fulfill those obligations. |
Fully Implemented |