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CMECNE

How Long to Maintain Medical Records?

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Learning Objectives and CME/Disclosure Information

This activity is intended for healthcare providers delivering care to women and their families.

After completing this activity, the participant should be better able to:

1. Recall that the length of time medical records must be retained
2. Discuss the importance of well-documented medical records and the preferred timing of documentation

Estimated time to complete activity: 0.25 hours

Faculty:

Susan J. Gross, MD, FRCSC, FACOG, FACMG
President and CEO, The ObG Project

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) requires faculty, planners, and others in control of educational content to disclose all their financial relationships with ineligible companies. All identified conflicts of interest (COI) are thoroughly vetted and mitigated according to PIM policy. PIM is committed to providing its learners with high quality accredited continuing education activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of an ineligible company.

The PIM planners and others have nothing to disclose. The OBG Project planners and others have nothing to disclose.

Faculty: Susan J. Gross, MD, receives consulting fees from Cradle Genomics, and has financial interest in The ObG Project, Inc.

Planners and Managers: The PIM planners and managers, Trace Hutchison, PharmD, Samantha Mattiucci, PharmD, CHCP, Judi Smelker-Mitchek, MBA, MSN, RN, and Jan Schultz, MSN, RN, CHCP have nothing to disclose.

Method of Participation and Request for Credit

Fees for participating and receiving CME credit for this activity are as posted on The ObG Project website. During the period from 12/31/2017 through 1/25/2023, participants must read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures and study the educational activity.

If you wish to receive acknowledgment for completing this activity, please complete the post-test and evaluation. Upon registering and successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation, your certificate will be made available immediately.

For Pharmacists: Upon successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation form, transcript information will be sent to the NABP CPE Monitor Service within 4 weeks.

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and The ObG Project. Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physician Continuing Medical Education

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Continuing Nursing Education

The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 0.2 contact hours.

Read Disclaimer & Fine Print

Providers keep medical charts for the purpose of providing good care, retaining accurate notes and, when necessary, sharing valuable information with colleagues.  Even after a patient has left care, it is not unusual to receive a request for records.  Patients may move or there may be important medical history that can help diagnose another family member at some point in the future (e.g., heritable cancer syndromes).  Additionally, a well-documented medical record is always the best defense against a medical malpractice lawsuit.  As courtroom adage goes, if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.

Notes made in the medical record at or near the time of treatment are regarded as highly reliable evidence. Without medical records, healthcare providers might not be able to show what care was provided and whether it met the standard of care. Simply stating the level of care and treatment rendered without providing documentation will often not succeed in a court of law, thus leaving the provider liable for the patient’s alleged injuries.

State and Federal Laws

State and federal laws regarding mandatory record retention requirements for hospitals or similar facilities differ from the laws for physician practices. The retention period for a minor’s records also varies. This variation exists to allow minors to bring suit for medical malpractice after they reach the age of majority for injuries that occurred when they were under age.

Generally, the Medicare Conditions of Participation (COP) require hospitals to retain records for five years (six years for critical access hospitals).  HIPAA privacy regulations require records to be retained for six years from when the record was created to adhere to the federal statute of limitations for civil penalties for HIPAA violations.  See record retention requirements from the healthit.gov site in ‘Learn More – Primary Sources’ below.

Medical Board and Medical Association Policies and Recommendations

When a direct state or federal law does not specify the retention period for physicians, medical boards may be able to provide policies or recommendations on how long a physician should keep records. For example, the Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners Policy 40-07 requires retaining all patient records for a minimum of 7 years after the last date of treatment, or 7 years after the patient reaches age 18 – whichever occurs later.

Storage and Safety Considerations

With the near mandatory use of electronic medical records, the storage of paper records will slowly be eliminated. However, attendant with the use of EMR comes the ever increasing need to prevent loss of data, or worse, hacking and cyber attacks on the electronic data across all industries.  Antiquated infrastructure and uncorrected network vulnerabilities are frequent causes of successful attacks.

Learn More – Primary Sources

HealthIT.gov: State Medical Record Laws: Minimum Medical Record Retention Periods for Records Held by Medical Doctors and Hospital

County of San Bernardino/California Code

From papyrus to the electronic tablet: a brief history of the clinical medical record with lessons for the digital age

Patient experiences with electronic medical records: Lessons learned

Barriers and Facilitators to Online Portal Use Among Patients and Caregivers in a Safety Net Health Care System: A Qualitative Study

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HIPAA versus HITECH: what are they?
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What is HIPAA and Does it Apply to You?
HIPAA – What Health Information is Considered Protected?
What to Do When Your Patient Leaves the Hospital Against Medical Advice?

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This website is not intended to be a source for legal advice, and thus the reader should not rely on any information provided in this website as such. Readers should not consider the information provided to be an invitation for an attorney-client relationship, and should always seek the advice of competent counsel in the reader’s home jurisdiction. Provider may provide links to third party websites. These links are provided only as a convenience. Linked websites are not reviewed, controlled or examined by Provider and Provider is not responsible for the information, advertising, products, resources or other materials, of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Provider. In addition, please be aware that your use of any linked site is subject to the terms and conditions applicable to that site. Please direct any questions regarding linked sites to the webmaster of that site.

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Computer System Requirements

OBG Project CME requires a modern web browser (Internet Explorer 10+, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge). Certain educational activities may require additional software to view multimedia, presentation, or printable versions of their content. These activities will be marked as such and will provide links to the required software. That software may be: Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft PowerPoint, Windows Media Player, or Real Networks Real One Player.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The planners of this activity do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the planners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information
presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient’s conditions and possible contraindications and/or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.

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