The State Office of Vital Records has reopened to the public. Starting July 1, 2022, the new office hours are Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The services offered are vital record purchases, minor corrections, and request intake. Masks are strongly recommended, but not required.

You may also request birth and death records online using one of our approved third party vendors, (ROVER, Go Certificates, or VitalChek) or visit your local county office. It is strongly recommended that you call first, before visiting your county office. If you would like to make a change or correction to a vital record, please mail your request, along with the required documentation, to our facility. Our mailing address is 1680 Phoenix Blvd., Suite 100, Atlanta, Georgia 30349. For all other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at 404-679-4702.

New GAVERS Feature

On September 1, 2022, a new feature in GAVERS was added for users at funeral homes and medical certifiers’ offices to submit death certificate corrections directly through GAVERS. Making use of this option to submit death corrections can help streamline the amendment process. We expect this will make death corrections easier and more convenient for funeral service providers and medical certifiers.

Users who submit their death corrections directly through GAVERS will no longer have to submit e-mails to the DPH-vrdeath.correction@dph.ga.gov inbox. If you are not ready to use the new GAVERS features, you can continue to submit corrections through e-mail. To avoid confusion, only submit the corrections once. Please do not submit the same correction both through GAVERS and e-mail.

Should you have any questions or need additional training, please contact your Regional Consultant.

Thank you,
Chris Harrison, MPH
State Registrar
Deputy Director, Data Integrity & Analytics
State Office of Vital Records

GAVERS TECHNICAL TIPS AND UPDATES

Technical Tip: Good vs. Bad Ticket Submissions

The Operations Support team is committed to resolving user submitted tickets in a timely and thorough fashion. To ensure your ticket is handled properly, it is very important that the ticket contains as much information as possible. This will assist the team greatly as they work to resolve your issue. If there is a ticket that is lacking information, more research will be required, which could potentially prolong the amount of time it would normally take to resolve your ticket. We have included examples below of what a “bad” ticket looks like as well as a “good” ticket.

Key elements of a bad ticket submission:

1. Missing Information
2. Incorrect Primary Role
3. Incorrect Type of Help Requested
4. Description of Request/Issue is insufficient

Update: Death Certificates Printing Format Options

GAVERS Death Certificate Printing Options have been updated. You now have the option to print with or without the SSN and you have four printing formats: Mother/Father, Mother/Parent, Father/Parent, and Parent/Parent.

LEGISLATIVE BILL SB 496

Attention GAVERS users:

A bill passed in the legislative session this year will have some changes to death certificate filing. The bill was signed by the Governor and took effect July 1, 2022. The two changes are:

If a woman dies while pregnant, or within one year of pregnancy, that death must be referred to the medical examiner or coroner

The bill clarifies what is considered an “unattended death” for medical examiner/coroner inquiry as someone who dies and has not been seen or treated by a physician within 180 days for a condition that could have resulted in death. This might help when we are in the middle between a physician and a coroner or ME who disagree about who should have jurisdiction.

Here is the summary of this bill, SB 496, from the legislature:

Medical Examiner’s Inquiry of Pregnant Women

SUMMARY

• Requires a medical examiner’s inquiry when a pregnant woman dies, subject to exceptions.

ANALYSIS

Under current law, there are conditions under which a medical examiner’s inquiry of the death must be ordered. This bill adds a condition for pregnant women or those who were pregnant within 365 days before their death unless their death resulted from incidental or accidental cause, such as from a motor vehicle accident or any other event where it is apparent that death was not causally related to the care of or physiology of pregnancy or its maintenance.

Under current law, a medical examiner must conduct an inquiry into an individual’s death if they are deemed to have died unattended by a physician. This bill clarifies this provision, that an individual is deemed to have died unattended by a physician when they had not been seen or treated by a physician within 180 days before their death for a condition or illness likely to have caused or contributed to the individual’s death.

A coroner or medical examiner notified of a death for a pregnant woman or woman within 365 days of a pregnancy must order a medical examiner’s inquiry for the death through a regional perinatal center, as identified by the Department of Public Health. This requirement will not apply if the death occurred under other circumstances under which a medical examiner inquiry is already required, such as death by suicide, as a result of violence, etc.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2022

REGIONAL CONSULTANTS

Contact your Regional Consultant with any questions or concerns directly or via the Communications Center, 404-679-4702. 
Business hours are 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

COUNTIES BY REGION

All of Georgia’s 159 counties are assigned to a regional consultant at the State Office of Vital Records. A regional consultant serves as the liaison between partners/stakeholders and the State Office. Your assigned regional consultant (RC) can assist you with answering questions, resolving escalations. They also provide group and individualized face to face and virtual trainings. Regional consultants are county specific. Please see the listing below to identify and contact your regional consultant

Region 1-North (Regional Consultant: Myers)

Counties in Region: Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Cobb, Columbia, Dade, Dawson, Elbert, Fannin, Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer, Glascock, Gordon, Greene, Habersham, Hall, Hancock, Hart, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jones, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Madison, McDuffie, Morgan, Murray, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Pickens, Polk, Putnam, Rabun, Stephens, Taliaferro, Towns, Union, Walker, Warren, Washington, White, Whitfield, Wilkes, Wilkinson

Region 2-West (Regional Consultant: Little)

Counties in Region: Baker, Brooks, Butts, Calhoun, Carroll, Chattahoochee, Clay, Clayton, Clarke, Colquitt, Coweta, Crawford, Decatur, Dekalb, Dooly, Dougherty, Douglas, Early, Fayette, Grady, Haralson, Harris, Heard, Henry, Lamar, Lee, Macon, Marion, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Muscogee, Newton, Peach, Pike, Quitman, Randolph, Rockdale, Schley, Seminole, Spalding, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Terrell, Thomas, Troup, Upson, Walton, Webster, Worth

Region 3-Southeast (Regional Consultant: Traylor)

Counties in Region: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Crisp, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Gwinnett, Houston, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Montgomery, Pierce, Pulaski, Richmond, Screven, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Tift, Toombs, Treultan, Turner, Twiggs, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox

Find a Vital Records Office in your area - CLICK HERE

Find Deputy Registrars for Disposition Permits - CLICK HERE