Death certificates are issued at the local level by counties which transmit the information to states which transmit the information to the National Center for Health Statistics. The NCHS is a division of the Centers for Disease Control.

 

Death Certificates are uniform throughout the US. To see the uniform death certificate, [PDF] go to the NCHS website. Race, ethnicity, place of birth. . . and most important is cause of death. "Death certificates are generally completed by funeral directors, attending physicians, medical examiners, and coroners" according to the NCHS.

 

The final national data comes out a year or two after the year involved. Nevertheless, the death data is being sent to the NCHS regularly. 

 

They have a website here.

 

The most recent "Leading Causes of Death" is for 2017. The leading cause of death is heart disease, except for Asians and Hispanics, for whom it is "malignant neoplasms"—NCHS speak for cancer.

 

"Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis" is the 11th most common cause of death among non-Hispanic whites and the 5th leading cause of death among "Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native." Assault (Homocide) is the 20th leading cause of death among Non-Hispanic whites and the 7th leading cause of death among Non-Hispanic blacks.

 

For those under the age of 44, accidents were the most common cause of death with the male rate higher than the female rate. 

 

We can feel confident that the numbers are being collected as we are getting daily updates in the press. Medical information is confidential as it applies to the individual but it is a public record as it applies to national data. I feel confident that the information is going to the states and Feds. I am not confident that there will be discussion of differential data about races.