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EVVE

EVVE: Electronic Verification of Vital Events

Secure Identity Verification from the Official Source

What is EVVE?
The Electronic Verification of Vital Events (EVVE) is a secure, real-time system that allows authorized government agencies to verify known or reported birth and death information directly with the official databases maintained by state, territorial, and jurisdictional vital records offices. Developed by the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS), EVVE helps protect individuals and programs by ensuring that only accurate, government-issued data is used to verify or certify a known vital event.

A Trusted Data Source

Unlike commercial systems, EVVE queries directly into authenticated databases maintained by government-run vital records offices—the only legally recognized sources of birth and death data in the U.S. That makes EVVE the most reliable and secure tool available for vital event verification.

Why Use EVVE?

Whether applying for a passport, enrolling in public benefits, or updating government records, verifying the validity of a person's birth or death certificate is essential. EVVE plays a behind-the-scenes but critical role in making sure that these documents have one centralized place to be validated.

EVVE helps confirm authentic identity information, which results in:

Prevention of the use of fraudulent or altered birth and death certificates
Reduction of identity theft and improper payments
Increased national security and public trust in government systems

Who Uses EVVE?
EVVE is used by authorized federal and state agencies that need to confirm vital event information as part of their programs or services. These may include:

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Department of Homeland Security
Department of State
Social Security Administration (SSA)

State departments of motor vehicles, health, and social services

Participating Jurisdictions

How It Works
When an agency needs to verify someone’s birth or death information, it submits a request through EVVE. The system securely routes that request to the issuing jurisdiction, checks it against the official vital records database, and returns a simple confirmation or denial within seconds. No PII data is stored in the EVVE system, and all transmissions are encrypted and protected.

EVVE Fact of Death (FOD)

Find Decedents Without Knowing If, Where or When They Died

EVVE Fact of Death (FOD) is a secure service that allows authorized users, including government agencies and approved private sector entities, to determine if an individual may be deceased, even when the date or place of death is unknown. FOD matches submitted information only against official death records from participating state and jurisdictional vital records offices. While incomplete due to varying availability of data from our members, it is the most accurate national death dataset available to query. No other data source is used to augment missing data years or jurisdictions.

Why FOD Matters

When it’s unclear where or when a person may have died, FOD eliminates the need to search multiple state databases individually. A single query checks across all participating jurisdictions and returns a simple yes/no answer in seconds, helping users identify decedents with greater speed and accuracy. A batch query is also possible, but may take significantly longer due to individual jurisdictions' processing times.

Key Benefits

Identify previously unknown decedents without needing a place or date of death
Streamline searches across jurisdictions with a single, nationwide query
Prevent fraud, identity theft, and improper payments
Rely on government-sourced, authenticated vital records data
Available to both public and private sector users, based on defined access categories

FOD is especially useful for organizations that manage financial accounts, benefits, identity records, or legal matters where verifying a death is essential—but details may be incomplete.