 Frequently Asked Questions |
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Work Process Questions
- Who benefits from Remote Attestation?
- Funeral Directors, local offices and state offoces all reduce costs substantialy. Studies show that, on average, a Funeral Director spends $100 per death to obtain the signature of a medical certifier. It only takes 10,000 deaths per year for this cost alone to add up to $1 million per year! Local and state governments spend additional labor moving and storing the paper. These costs are substantially reduced by using Remote Attestation.
- How does Remote Attestation fit into our work flow?
- Refer to our Remote Attestation Flow page to see the work flow from beginning to end.
Or, download pdf versions of the same diagrams for sharing or printing.
· Remote Attestation Flow page
· Remote Attestation Work Flow —pdf file
· Drop to Paper Work Flow —pdf file - Can we state create our own forms for the faxes?
- Yes. The forms are customized specifically for each state. Typically, this means two forms. The "Work Copy" gathers the medical information from the physician, and the "Attestation Copy" echos back all of the death record data to the physician for attestation of its accuaracy.
- What do the faxed forms usually look like?
- To get an idea of what other states forms look like, you can download these:
· example forms used by IL —pdf file
User Feature Questions
- What types of physicians use fax attestation?
- The large majority of physicians use the Remote Attestation by fax, including those in small practies and large hospitals. The exception is the medical examiners, who often choose the user-name and pssword/PIN method to log in to the EDRS directly and enter medical data, i.e. cause and manner of death.
- Is a data-entry user aware that he is using two systems?
- No. When entering data from an image, the user has two windows open side by side. One window with the data and one with the image. The user experience is that the EDRS system has the "images in it." The interface is seamless and invisible to the user.
- How does the specific fax image get assigned to the death record?
- The Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) generates a document ID for each document that pertains to that each death record. This number is communicated to the Remote Attestation system when the fax is sent and is printed on the fax, usually as a bar code. When the fax is received from the physician, the document ID is read by the Remote Attestation system and communicated back to the EDRS.
- Can I tell what has been faxed and what was not successfully faxed?
- Yes. The system has fax logs that record the results of every attempt to send or receive a fax.
Infrastructure Cost Questions
- How many phone lines will I need?
- This, of course, depends on the death rate and the number of pages
sent out with the Work Copy and the Attestation Copy. Call us to calculate the
recommended number of lines. Or you can use our
calculator page to enter your information, and then calculate the probaility that a
physician's office will get a busy signal. Adjust the number of lines
until you get a less than 2% chance of a busy line.
· Erlang Calculator for Fax Lines - What type of phone service is required?
- Becasue a T1 phone line will provide substantially better reliability than analog lines, Acordex recommends using T1. There are two types of T1 lines: 1. PRI (Primary Rate Interface, also called ISDN T1) and 2. Channelized (sometimes called Classic T1). Acordex supports both types. A PRI T1 can be ordered with up to 23 phone numbers, sharing a single cable that enters your building. With PRI you can get Caller ID capability. A Channelized T1 can be ordered with up to 24 phone numbers, but cannot provide Caller ID. Since the costs of each type varies from one location to another, it may be worth asking a local provider which type of T1 they recommend.
- What is the recurring telecoms cost?
- The Erlang Calculator page (above) includes the average number of hours per month used to send and receive faxes. After deciding whether you want to provide a toll-free number for the received (inbound) faxes or let the physicians incur that phone cost, contact your telecoms provider to determine what the costs would be for the number of minutes you may need.
- Are there other recurring costs?
- Yes, system maintenance. Acordex offeers a comprehensive service contract that covers everything from failed hardware replacement, to system upgrades, to user support. This is priced as a percentage of the system cost and can be renewed each year. There are no "per fax" nor "per transaction" fees.
- Does it cost more if I add more users?
- No. The software license is for an unlimited number of users.
- What communications and computer center space is required?
- Allow 5U of rack space. The system will need an ethernet connection for communications to the EDRS database and for remote support, and a T1 for the phone lines as shown in the Communications Diagram.