Not sure how long to keep your medical records? The minimum length of time you must keep your patients’ medical records varies by state and, in some states, by your type of medical practice.

In this article, we’ll give you an idea of how long you should keep medical records under federal and state law. You’ll also get tips on how to better manage patient records.

How long should medical records be kept? It depends.
In terms of state laws, there is no single rule.

Rather, you can expect a minimum retention period for medical records of 5 years from the date the patient is discharged from your hospital and a maximum of 10 years.

However, in some situations, you can expect an even longer retention period. If you treated a minor, you may have to keep their records until they come of age in that state or longer. In Hawaii, for example, you must keep complete information on minors until they are 25 years old, meaning if you treated them at age 13, that would be 12 years.

Finally, doctors can usually keep their patients’ records for a shorter period of time than hospitals. In Connecticut, for example, physicians only have to keep records for 7 years after the last date of treatment, while hospitals have to keep records for 10 years after the patient is discharged.

The Problem with Maintaining Medical Records

For both hospitals and clinics, these minimum retention periods pose a problem.

In clinics/hospitals that use paper records, patient files take up a lot of space. Moreover, these records are also at risk of loss due to natural disasters (e.g., fires). Paper records are also vulnerable to unauthorized viewing and theft.

Finally, even if you could protect these records from disaster, the fact is that the ink and paper will deteriorate over time. In states that require you to keep medical records for more than 10 years, you could lose your records by age before that period expires.