Store your business’ essential documents securely offsite to save space and ensure compliance.
Protect your business’s digital media in a secure, climate-controlled vault.
Preserve the safety and integrity of biological samples, pathology slides, and critical medical materials with secure, climate-controlled storage.
Optimize storage for pallets and bulk items with secure, scalable solutions ideal for growing businesses.
Secure your essential records like wills, evidence, trusts, and legal documents in our vault.
Easily manage and track your inventory online with Corodata’s secure and user-friendly Client Portal.
Need storage boxes? Order Corodata’s durable, secure boxes online in just a few clicks. Keep your records organized and protected.
Access your physical documents digitally with Corodata’s Scan on Demand service. Deliver secure, on-request scans directly to your device.
Digitize large quantities of documents efficiently with Corodata’s High Volume Scanning. Ensure quick, secure, and accurate conversion to digital files.
Securely access your digital and scanned documents anytime from your desktop, tablet, or phone with CoroVault.
Keep your business compliant and secure with our NAID-certified paper shredding services.
Securely dispose of IT assets with secure data destruction and responsible recycling.
Prevent data breaches with certified hard drive destruction, fully wiping data and ensuring compliance.
Host a shred event to provide secure shredding services to your community at a central location with our mobile shred truck.
We offer a range of secure, locked shred bins and consoles designed to safely store confidential documents and files. Explore our available options today!
Stay informed with the latest records management tips, industry news, and expert insights.
Unlock free exclusive ebooks, templates, and checklists to streamline your business operations.
Access free on-demand webinars to master Corodata’s client portal.
This guide reveals exactly which business records to keep and for how long.
Safeguard your business operations and speed up recovery during a crisis by completing this disaster recovery plan.
Easily maintain HIPAA compliance with our comprehensive checklist.
Since 1948, we have delivered secure records management solutions to help businesses confidently protect and manage their information.
Healthcare organizations generate records across dozens of categories, from patient charts to billing files and employee exposure logs. Each category carries its own retention requirement, set by a different federal agency or regulatory body.
This guide breaks down healthcare records retention guidelines by category, with recommended retention periods and federal sources for each. It is designed as a working reference for healthcare administrators and those responsible for meeting hospital record retention requirements.
This list includes Health Information Management (HIM) professionals, compliance officers, practice managers, legal teams, and IT and records management staff responsible for maintaining compliant retention schedules.
Understanding how long to keep healthcare records is important for several reasons. If you destroy records too early, you expose your organization to regulatory penalties, failed audits, and litigation. Hold onto records longer than you need to, and you create extra storage costs, increased privacy risk, and more complex compliance issues. Getting retention wrong in either direction creates real risk.
Healthcare organizations face audits from multiple directions—CMS, OCR, state health departments, and private payers can all request records. When records can’t be produced on demand, the consequences range from claim denials and civil monetary penalties to loss of Medicare and Medicaid participation.
No single federal law sets a universal retention period for all healthcare records. The healthcare records retention guidelines come from multiple sources, depending on the record type and the program involved. Understanding where each requirement comes from is the first step in building a compliant records lifecycle management program.
The sections below outline the recommended retention period for each major record category, along with the relevant federal source.
Retention requirements vary depending on the type of record, the federal agency that governs it, and, in some cases, even the patient’s age at the time of treatment. The Healthcare records retention guidelines are covered below by category to show the most common record types with recommended retention periods and federal sources for each.
** Please note that this information should only be used as a guide. It is recommended to consult with your legal team, insurance carrier, state and federal laws and regulations, and other applicable sources for specific guidance on your business situation.
Most healthcare organizations must retain adult patient medical records for at least six years under HIPAA’s Privacy Rule. However, HIPAA sets a floor, not a ceiling. Many states require longer retention periods, and organizations should always defer to the stricter standard.
In most guidelines, diagnostic imaging records, including X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans, carry longer retention requirements than standard medical records.
Clinical laboratories must retain test records for a minimum of two years under CLIA regulations. This applies to test requisitions, authorizations, results, and quality control records. Some states require longer periods, so organizations should verify local requirements against the federal floor.
Healthcare organizations must retain billing and financial records for a minimum of seven years under IRS recordkeeping guidelines. This includes claims, payment records, and any documentation tied to tax obligations. Organizations that participate in Medicare and Medicaid should note that CMS may impose additional requirements on billing documentation.
Prescription records are subject to both state pharmacy board requirements and federal DEA regulations for controlled substances. Many states require longer periods for all prescription records, and organizations should check state pharmacy board requirements in addition to federal minimums.
Insurance records, including explanation of benefits documents, prior authorization records, and correspondence with payers, are not governed by a single federal retention requirement.
Consent forms, authorization records, and legal documents related to patient care are generally retained in the patient’s medical record and are subject to the same retention period. However, consent forms tied to specific procedures or research participation may carry additional requirements.
Employee occupational health records carry some of the longest retention medical record retention requirements of any record category.
This applies to records of exposure to toxic substances and harmful physical agents, including medical records created in connection with workplace exposure.
Healthcare providers that participate in Medicare and Medicaid must retain documentation supporting claims and services for a minimum of 5 years, per CMS requirements. This includes medical records, billing documentation, and any records used to support reimbursement claims.
Providers should be aware that fraud and abuse investigations can extend lookback periods significantly beyond the standard five years.
HIPAA records retention requirements cover entities to retain privacy policies, procedures, and compliance documentation for six years from the date of creation or the date the document was last in effect, whichever is later. This includes notices of privacy practices, business associate agreements, and records of privacy complaints and their disposition.
Federal and state law don’t always align on how long healthcare records must be kept. When they conflict, the stricter standard wins.
Federal requirements establish the baseline. HIPAA sets a 6-year minimum for privacy documentation. CMS requires 5 years for Medicare and Medicaid records. OSHA mandates 30 years for employee exposure records. These floors apply regardless of where your organization operates.
State laws fill in the gaps, particularly for patient medical records, which HIPAA does not directly govern. Some states require 10 years or more for adult patient records. Others tie retention to the statute of limitations for medical malpractice, which varies significantly by state.
Pediatric records require special attention because standard retention periods don’t always apply. For minor patients, the retention clock typically doesn’t start until the patient reaches the age of majority, which is 18 in most states. This means that a record created when a patient is 5 years old may need to be retained for 13 years or more just to reach the starting point of the standard retention period.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends retaining pediatric records until the patient reaches the age of majority plus several additional years, though the exact period varies by state. Organizations should verify requirements with legal counsel and check state-specific rules, as some states have explicit pediatric retention requirements that differ significantly from the general standard.
For healthcare organizations that serve both adult and pediatric populations, maintaining separate retention schedules for minor patient records is the safest approach to ensuring compliance.
Once a retention period expires, records do not need to be kept. But how you destroy them matters as much as how long you kept them. Improper destruction of healthcare records carries its own regulatory and legal risk.
HIPAA requires that protected health information be disposed of in a manner that renders it unreadable, indecipherable, and unable to be reconstructed. For paper records, that means shredding. For electronic records, it means secure data wiping or destruction of the physical media. Simply discarding records in a recycling bin or general waste stream is a HIPAA violation regardless of whether the retention period has passed.
Before destroying any records, confirm that no litigation holds, open audits, or active investigations require the records to be preserved beyond the standard retention period.
Healthcare records retention is not just about how long you keep records. It is also about how you keep them. Records that are damaged, inaccessible, or disorganized are as problematic as records that were destroyed too early.
For long-term storage, healthcare organizations should ensure that records are stored in a secure, climate-controlled environment that protects against deterioration, unauthorized access, and disaster. Paper records are particularly vulnerable to humidity, temperature fluctuations, and pests. Electronic records require secure servers, regular backups, and access controls that meet HIPAA security requirements.
Managing large volumes of paper records over decades is one of the most common operational challenges healthcare organizations face. That’s why, regardless of format, organizations need a reliable retrieval system.
Offsite records storage with a qualified vendor provides both the physical security and the retrieval infrastructure required for long-term healthcare records management.
Healthcare records retention guidelines are a moving target. Federal requirements, state laws, and program-specific rules create a complex landscape that changes over time. Corodata works with healthcare organizations across California to provide the secure storage, reliable retrieval, and compliant destruction services that compliance requires.
Ready to talk about managing your healthcare records and patient files? Contact us today!
Ensure HIPAA compliance effortlessly with our essential checklist. Download now to safeguard patient data and meet regulatory requirements.
