Responsibilities
The Board of Health Burial Agent is responsible for examining the death record for any errors or omissions; and, upon acceptance, to assign a burial permit number to the death certificate and collect fees where applicable.
The Board of Health Burial Agent must release the death record to the clerk for registration when all requirements for the permit have been met.
Initial disposition permits will be produced from the EDRS. All subsequent disposition permits such as those for removals will be issued outside the EDRS. These can be issued using the fillable PDF provided by the Registry or by using your existing paper permits.
Providing Burial Permits outside of regular business hours
The EDRS System allows Burial Agents the option of enabling the printing of the Burial Permits through a process called e-Permitting. The Board of Health Burial Agent will need to communicate with the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics if their community will Opt-In (which enables the printing of e-Permits) or Opt-Out (which only enables the printing of the burial permit after a permit number has been assigned).
If a Board of Health Burial Agent does not allow e-Permit printing, they are responsible for the assigning of permit numbers prior to the printing of the burial permit by an authorized user. More information about e-Permitting can be found in the Opt-In Factsheet for off hours E-permitting (Doc) and the Opt-In Form for off hour E-permitting (Doc).
Downloads
Enrolling in VIP
- VIP Enrollment Guide for Burial Agents and City/Town Clerks PDF (Doc)
- Enrollment Matrix for Burial Agents and Clerks Excel
- Vitals Information Partnership forms:
- Other forms:
Training
- Quick Start Guide for Burial Agents PDF (Doc)
- VIP EDRS Board of Health – Burial Agent Overview PDF (Doc)
Tools
Resources
- Primary Burial Agent Directory (Doc)
- Opt-In Factsheet for off hours E-permitting (Doc)
- VIP Electronic Death Registration System -Introduction and Overview PDF (Doc)
- VIP EDRS Handout Sheet PDF (Doc)
- Electronic Death Registration System Brochure PDF (Doc)
- Vitals Information Partnership (VIP) Contingency Plan PDF (Doc)