National Public Health Improvement Initiative in Tennessee

Before funding was provided, we convened partners, researched vendor options, assessed conditions and needs, and conducted a comprehensive review of our existing system to inform development of the framework for our new system. CDC’s NPHII funding allowed us to build on this collaborative process and move forward. In year one, funds were used to

• Listen to the needs expressed by partners and stakeholders
• Issue a request for proposals for the Vital Records Information Systems Management commercial system and select a vendor using a competitive process
• Implement the new system in fall 2011, which is expected to be fully operational by 2016

In year one, we were able to

• Document a business process and implement measures, such as rolling out the current U.S. standard death certificate a year prior to the launch of the new death registration system; this will enable us to track and measure the effectiveness of the new system independent of the change in the certificate
• Streamline decision making in vital records
• Reduce the time it takes to register birth events and process birth certificates
• Improve communication with customers, including reducing e-mail inquiries through the General Commissioner by 43 percent after improving the vital records website
• Apply this successful planning process — consensus building, methodical thinking, and organized framework — in five different divisions, seven health regions, and with partners in the field

Key factors to the success of year-one activities included

• Continuing to plan and implement improvements even though many elements of the initiative had to be put on hold due to the recession — the program was ready to move forward quickly once funding was available
• Capitalizing on small-scale opportunities to improve quality and efficiency — by gathering input from partners and stakeholders, we were able to identify and put in place small changes that made a big difference