Department of Health

Controls Over Documents Used to Establish Identity

The Department of Health is responsible for the registration of all births and deaths that occur in New York State outside of New York City. Authorized agents such as physicians and funeral directors prepare and file birth and death certificate forms with local registrars, and the local registrars which forward the data to the Department. We examined the Department’s controls over birth/death certificates and birth/death information. We identified several weaknesses in these controls. Our findings and recommendations were provided to Department officials during the course of our audit, but were not included in our public report due to the sensitivity of the information.

For a complete copy of Report 2004-S-1 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.