Design the Optimal Healthcare Records Retention Schedule
Sometimes “forever” seems like the safest solution to the question of how long you should hold on to patient medical records. But you know better; keeping records forever
poses risks. Find out how—and why—to avoid this appealing trap.
37% of IT professionals polled in a 2011 Information Week Analytics survey have no plans to move their storage to the cloud. 73% of these respondents cite security concerns as their primary reason for not considering a migration. 54% cited data privacy as another important barrier.
As healthcare organizations grapple with the dilemma of which records to keep and which to destroy, they may look to regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and industry associations for guidance. After all, it should be easy to locate privacy requirements and retention laws for personal health information, right?
(Insert laugh track here.) If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, HIPAA’s guidelines don’t advise on these procedures. However, a number of variables inform the retention lifecycle of your patient medical records. These include:
- Federal regulations, such as Medicare and OSHA requirements (for example, doctors must retain the records of employees who have been exposed to toxic substances for 30 years). State laws specify retention requirements for medical records for adult and minor patients. Many states have laws for radiology images and other healthcare records, too.
- Some states have privacy requirements that also must be met.
In addition to state and federal laws, industry associations and even insurers may set guidelines. With complex and sometimes conflicting information about retention available, how can you develop a sound and thorough retention schedule? How should the policy be implemented, and what steps need to be taken to educate employees about their records management responsibilities?
Decrease Risks, Minimize Costs
If it still seems easier to store everything forever, consider the increased litigation risks, discovery costs and storage requirements of this strategy—not to mention the time and money it can waste. Seventy-three percent of organizations in a 2011 survey by the Council for Information Auto-Classification said that an overload of archived data hampered their retrieval efforts. Half of the respondents said they’re forced to re-create information simply because they can’t find it. Not being able to find critical information when it’s needed can have serious consequences for your organization.
Thankfully, an effective records management program avoids these pitfalls. Developing a program starts with understanding the risks and benefits for establishing a consistent, defensible records management program. Healthcare providers have a responsibility to protect patient information. In the medical field, the most important reasons for keeping medical records are:
- To provide information on a patient’s care to other healthcare professionals.
- To accurately maintain the patient’s medical history, in keeping with laws and regulations.
- To provide legal support for a physician’s defense in the event of malpractice litigation.
A comprehensive records management program includes a solid, detailed records retention schedule supported by federal and state legal requirements. Such a schedule serves as the organization’s legal authority to retain and purge records. When followed, a records management program reduces storage costs, increases efficiencies and improves an organization’s reputation as a leader in the industry.
Room for Improvement
While many organizations have made progress in establishing a records retention schedule, Iron Mountain found in a recent compliance benchmark report that few have consistently applied a schedule from “end to end” in terms of a record’s lifespan. Iron Mountain’s survey found that:
- Only 29 percent of organizations have a retention schedule that applies to all media types.
- 61 percent of organizations surveyed either don’t have a records retention schedule or have not updated the one they do have.
- 71 percent of those surveyed reported having an incomplete approach to preserving electronic records under their users’ control.
Medical practitioners need to do better than that. Sure, it would be nice if there was one hard and fast rule for medical records retention, but don’t let the complexity of the task impede your efforts. Healthcare professionals can best serve their patients, their colleagues and themselves by implementing a formal records retention schedule that underscores their good-faith effort to manage patient data.
Do you have questions about Healthcare Information Management Solutions? Read additional Knowledge Center stories on this subject, or contact Iron Mountain’s consulting services team. You’ll be connected with a knowledgeable product and services specialist who can address your specific challenges.
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