Coordinating Public Health Activities in the Offices of Medical Examiners and Coroners

Brief Summary
Epidemiologists frequently use data from investigations by medical examiners and coroners (ME/C) to better understand and monitor a broad range of public health conditions, from emerging infectious diseases to suicide and motor vehicle crashes.  However, obstacles to coordinated work between epidemiologists and ME/C continue.  During the roundtable, Margaret Warner will briefly describe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics (CDC/NCHS) initiative to coordinate federal public health activities in ME/C offices.  Following the presentations, roundtable participants will discuss: (1) states’ experiences in working with ME/C; (2) state statutory requirements and other policies governing death investigation; (3) barriers to collaboration and data access, including state specific, data specific, and structural barriers; and (4) ME/C data storage systems (e.g. paper files, case logs, computerized databases) with an eye towards standardizing the collection and reporting of data to enhance both medical death investigation and public health surveillance.  Participants will be encouraged to identify issues unique to a given state and issues which are consistent across all states. The information gathered during the roundtable will be summarized along with similar information from federal partners in order to gain perspective into the scope of public health interactions with ME/C.  After the roundtable, participants who wish may continue to participate in the CDC/NCHS initiative.  By participating, roundtable contributors will gain insight into best practices from other state colleagues, as well as assist the CDC/NCHS in the long range goal of enhancing interactions between public health and medical examiners and coroners.