Modernizing Violent Death and Suicide Surveillance Using the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)

The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is CDC's state-based surveillance system for violent deaths and suicides. NVDRS combines information from death certificates, coroner or medical examiner reports, including toxicology reports, and law enforcement reports to provide comprehensive, incident-level data on the circumstances surrounding violent deaths.

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity, CDC will support eligible state, territorial, and local government entities, or their bona fide agents, in operating and modernizing NVDRS. Recipients will conduct statewide or territory-wide surveillance by collecting, linking, managing, analyzing, and submitting high-quality data on violent deaths and suicides.

A central focus of this NOFO is timely and complete data reporting through two coordinated reporting processes: quarterly provisional data pulls and annual data closeout. Beginning in Year 1, recipients will prepare data for CDC's quarterly provisional data pulls to support earlier access to preliminary, actionable information. Recipients will progressively update case records as additional source documents and information become available.

Annual data closeout is the primary process for producing the complete, finalized, and validated NVDRS dataset for each data year. Recipients must ensure that all eligible cases are fully abstracted, updated, validated, and completed using all required and available data sources by the annual closeout deadline. The finalized annual dataset supports national reporting, analysis, dissemination, and public health action.

This NOFO also emphasizes modernization of data systems and workflows to increase efficiency, reduce reporting burden, improve data quality and timeliness, and enhance data usability. All recipients will complete a modernization readiness assessment within six months of award and implement at least one modernization pilot during the period of performance. Pilot activities may include automated data import and extraction, electronic data exchange and interoperability, workflow automation, data-quality tools, and enhanced data analysis and visualization.

With CDC approval, recipients may also participate in optional activities that link NVDRS data with other relevant data systems to improve surveillance and expand public health insights.

The intended outcome is a sustainable, modernized national surveillance system that produces timely provisional data and complete, reliable, high-quality annual data to inform violence and suicide prevention and support public health action.