OVRS Resources

📢NEWS ALERT: Important Updates from the Ohio Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics

The Bureau of Vital Statistics (BVS) distributed an email to funeral homes yesterday evening. OFDA was informed that this message was not sent to all OVRS users—only to the main contacts listed for each funeral home.

To ensure all members have the most up-to-date information, we are sharing the following Release Notes for Funeral Homes provided by BVS:

📝 Release Notes for Funeral Homes

This message is being shared to provide updates on any issues or to provide important information on any death issues.

📄Drop to Paper – Medical Certification Worksheet

• It is essential to verify whether an electronic certifier exists before requesting certification through the “Drop to Paper” process.
• If the certifier’s name does not appear in the table, the name field should remain blank.
• Please ensure that no name information is entered in the Certification section when you print the Medical Certification Worksheet.

🖊️Medical Certification Worksheet

• All information in the Certified section must be completed before attaching the document to your death case.
• If the certifier’s name, title, license number, or address is missing, you will be notified that the case cannot be registered until the form is complete.
• Please ensure that the certifier provides their email address and phone number so that they can be contacted for enrollment in OVRS, allowing future cases to be completed electronically.

⚰️Ordering Disposition Permits

• In cases of a "Drop to Paper" record the system will not allow a funeral home to print a disposition permit once the order has been paid and certificate meets the required status.
• Once you have successfully completed an order for a disposition permit, the printing option for the permit is not enabled, which gives the impression that your order has not been entered correctly.
• PLEASE DO NOT ENTER ADDITIONAL REQUESTS TO ORDER THIS SERVICE. If this occurs, please contact the Vital Statistics Help Desk at (614) 466-2531. A representative will verify your order and provide a copy of the permit.

🔢 Social Security Verification

OVRS is currently experiencing an issue validating decedents’ Social Security numbers with the SSA. We are trying to escalate this issue, however, there are limited resources at SSA to help right now. We will continue to work on this issue until a resolution is found. Until then, we are asking all funeral directors to complete Form SSA-721 (Statement of Death by Funeral Director) to report a death to the Social Security Administration.

📚Additional Resources

OVRS has added several reference documents under the Help Section within the system:

• OVRS Funeral Director Quick Start Guide
• OVRS Funeral Home Manual
• OVRS Disposition Permit Guide
• OVRS Drop to Paper Guide

For questions or assistance, please contact the Bureau of Vital Statistics Help Desk at (614) 466-2531

OFDA wants to thank our 480 members who signed on for October 6, 2025 OVRS webinar. If you missed the live webinar, no problem. We have you covered.