PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — A statewide initiative to improve the accuracy of information on birth certificates has seen some success.
The Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative, based at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, started the Birth Certificate Accuracy Initiative. Through the initiative, accuracy rates rose from 87 percent to 97 percent last year among participating hospitals, the (Peoria) Journal Star reports.
Darlene Hammond is director of obstetrics at Pekin Hospital. She says there are about 200 questions and queries they input into a long-form birth certificate that they send to the state.
The Illinois Department of Public Health uses the data to come up with statistics on childbirth and maternity health. Hospitals and agencies base programs, policies and funding on information that comes from long-form birth certificates.
