Happy New Year And Other Stuff
Happy New Year to all! I hope your 2012 is a vast improvement over 2011! I know my year ended on an upbeat note. I got rid of my boss when he bought his own funeral home, and that was a very nice Christmas present indeed. For anyone who hasn't read through all my posts, my boss and I never exactly got along, but that is no longer an issue.
Business was uncharacteristically slow these past few months. However, it wasn't just us; everyone in town had a slow season. However, we've gotten a few calls these past few days, so things are picking up.
The latest news is that our county is implementing Electronic Death Certificates. This means we will no longer have to print out a paper death certificate and deliver it to the doctor, then wait until it's ready and go pick it up. It will save a lot of running around and gas money. This will go into effect the end of January. In the meantime, we're having to study online tutorials and attend an orientation in a few weeks. I have my reservations about this process, because one of the tasks the funeral director or staff will have to do is take the cause of death information given to us by the doctors and type it into the system ourselves. This worries me, because one wrong term can change the whole meaning of the cause of death. For example, there is a huge difference between hypertension (high blood pressure) and hypotension (low blood pressure). Also, if the doctor does not indicate Natural Cause as the type of death, we have to select Not Stated when we complete the medical portion of the death certificate. How many life insurance companies are going to deny a claim because the certificate does not specify Natural Cause? There are a lot more concerns I have; hopefully I can have my questions answered at orientation.
Business was uncharacteristically slow these past few months. However, it wasn't just us; everyone in town had a slow season. However, we've gotten a few calls these past few days, so things are picking up.
The latest news is that our county is implementing Electronic Death Certificates. This means we will no longer have to print out a paper death certificate and deliver it to the doctor, then wait until it's ready and go pick it up. It will save a lot of running around and gas money. This will go into effect the end of January. In the meantime, we're having to study online tutorials and attend an orientation in a few weeks. I have my reservations about this process, because one of the tasks the funeral director or staff will have to do is take the cause of death information given to us by the doctors and type it into the system ourselves. This worries me, because one wrong term can change the whole meaning of the cause of death. For example, there is a huge difference between hypertension (high blood pressure) and hypotension (low blood pressure). Also, if the doctor does not indicate Natural Cause as the type of death, we have to select Not Stated when we complete the medical portion of the death certificate. How many life insurance companies are going to deny a claim because the certificate does not specify Natural Cause? There are a lot more concerns I have; hopefully I can have my questions answered at orientation.
posted by Granimore | 3:04 PM
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