A common question we receive almost weekly pertains to the duration to the legacy data archival and maintaining of medical records for any given healthcare organization. There are often many layers of ambiguity when comparing federal and state laws, and each organization must navigate these choppy waters in order to comply with those regulations.

On a case by case basis, we must of course consider many factors, including but not limited to, Physician specialty/type, (records for pediatrics are especially complex), state statute of limitations, paper and digital storage methods with proper access for patients and physicians, whether or not a practice is closing, custodian of record, record destruction guidelines, medical liability insurance considerations, and more.  

A good rule of thumb is to check initially with your legal council, followed by your state’s code guidelines. It’s a good idea to contact the state to make sure the latest information exists on their website, as often newly passed legislation doesn’t appear right away on the website.

Legacy Data Archival  – Retention Periods

But for purposes of this article, we want to focus largely on how long to maintain the records for each state, any outliers we may not be aware of – the ONC actually has a nice cheat sheet for all states available, which can be found here, although an updated version has been requested:

ONC: State Medical Record Laws: Minimum Medical Record Retention Periods for Records Held by Medical Doctors and Hospitals*

The state average for maintaining the medical record is 7 years following the discharge of the patient, or date of last service. For minors, it’s typically the same 7 years or until the patient reaches the age of 21, whichever is longer. Again, each state has their own code regulations, and staying up to date on those regulations is a priority. 

Beware the Outliers of legacy data archival

The reason it’s so important to check with each state’s code, is that there can be many one-off pieces of the code that are wildly important but can go unnoticed, For example, there are some pieces of information that require retention subject to other requirements, such as original xrays or tracings etc. Another example is the state of California would prefer a patient chart from a physician office be kept indefinitely where possible.  

There are even portions of code in some states where if a patient dies in the hospital or within 30 days of discharge and is survived by one or more minors who are or claim to be entitled to damages for the patient’s wrongful death, the hospital must retain the patient’s hospital record until the youngest minor reaches age 28. Legacy data archival systems are imperative here.

Partner Up

In any scenario where you need to be medico-legally accurate, get some help. Reach out to your legal staff, state websites, and industry experts who can ensure that you have all of the information you need to plan your record retention accordingly.

No matter what you end up doing with your legacy systems, do something. “There are two types of people in this world, those that have lost data, and those that are about to.” Archive those old servers and save funds today by ensuring you don’t need to upgrade the hardware and software of those old legacy systems. Beyond costs, there are fires, floods, hardware failures, data breaches, and more.

-Dan Holleran | 314-471-3409 | dan@pdehealth.com | www.pdehealth.com

PDE Health is an advanced data solutions firm, and have developed the CHR Base product, a legacy data archival system. Visit our website to learn more about who we are and what we can do as a good business partner in the healthcare data industry. We pride ourselves in ensuring that each client receives a return on their investment, as saving funds is a top priority in today’s market.