. "Appendix F: Verification of Completeness and Accuracy of Mortality Ascertainment." Mortality of Veteran Participants in the CROSSROADS Nuclear Test. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1996.
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TABLE F-1. Procedural Steps and Success Rates for Determination of Vital Status Information
Procedural Step
Participants (38,668), %
Controls (35,242), %
Total No.
Total %
All submitted to BIRLS Of those submitted to BIRLS,
100.0
100.0
73,910
100.0
% found on BIRLS
87.4
88.1
87.7
Of those found on BIRLS, % with indication of death
38.7
37.9
38.3
Of those with indication on BIRLS of death, indicated by % date of death
96.9
96.9
96.9
% FARC folder location only
3.1
3.1
3.1
Of those with indication on BIRLS of death, % with claims folder location noted in BIRLS
80.3
81.3
80.8
Of those with claims folder location noted on BIRLS, % in VA regional offices
71.1
70.7
70.9
% in FARCs
28.6
29.3
28.9
Submitted to VAMI
100.0
100.0
24,762
100.0
Of those submitted to VAMI, % found
92.6
91.3
91.9
A veteran could be "not found" on the Beneficiary Identification and Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) for varied reasons: (a) the record existed but the Medical Follow-up Agency (MFUA) submitted insufficient information, such as a misspelled name, to identify it; (b) the requesting information was correct but the BIRLS record includes a misspelling; (c) a veteran was not entered into BIRLS because the veteran or a surviving dependent had filed no claim for medical, educational, loan, death, or other benefits. Similarly, a claims folder—identified by BIRLS—could be "not found" because (a) the request went to the wrong VA Regional Office (VARO), (b) misfiling, (c) the file was transferred to another VARO, or (d) the file was transferred to a regional Archives center (FARC). Finally, a claims folder may be found yet not contain the death
