Closing, retiring or relocating
What happens to medical records when a practice closes
A practice that closes does not stop owing its patients their records: someone has to keep the charts for the period the law sets and answer requests for copies.
Ask about our old records Tell us who holds the charts and the years they cover, and we will answer against the 14 documents on this board.
The patient's right of access goes on
45 CFR 164.524 gives an individual a right to inspect and obtain a copy of protected health information in a designated record set for as long as it is maintained there. The right is tied to the records being kept, not to the practice staying open.
How long the charts must be kept
HIPAA itself does not set a retention period for the chart; 164.530(j) keeps HIPAA's own policies and documentation for six years. The period for the record comes from state law and payers: a Medicare hospital, for example, must keep medical records for at least five years under 42 CFR 482.24.
Florida's notice when a doctor leaves
Florida section 456.057 tells records owners to place an advertisement in the local newspaper or notify patients in writing when they are terminating practice, retiring or relocating, and to offer patients a copy of their record. The same section has them tell the board office who the new records owner is and where the records can be found. Other states set their own rules, which is why the state matters before anything else.
If the practice goes into bankruptcy
11 U.S.C. 351 sets out what a trustee does with a health care business's patient records when there is not enough money to keep them for the period the law requires, including notice to patients before the records are destroyed.
Every rule here is on this site's register of medical records custody law, with its own text. Records held by an archive or custodian are on medical records custodian services.