Retention, Maintenance, and Destruction of Medical Records – N.M. Code R. §16.10.17.10

Retention, Maintenance, and Destruction of Medical Records

Physicians must retain the medical records for at least 10 years after the date of last treatment. The records of minors must be retained until the patient is 21 years old. If converted to electronic form, a physician must retain the hard copy of a record for 30 days. Physicians must keep billing information for at least 2 years after the date of last treatment. Physicians must provide every patient with a written copy of their policy for medical record retention, maintenance, and destruction.

Written medical record policies shall include:

• The responsible entity to contact to obtain records or request transfer of records;
• How the records can be obtained or transferred;
• How long the records will be maintained before they are destroyed; and
• The cost of obtaining copies of records, and of recovering records/transferring records.

Electronic medical record policies must specify: 

• The responsible entity to obtain records or requests for transfer of records;
• How the records can be obtained or transferred;
• How long the records will be maintained before they are destroyed or purged;
• A data backup plan, disaster recovery plan, and storage; and
• Transfer of data via electronic file with appropriate safeguards to ensure patient confidentiality.

The board adopts ethical standards regarding record retention and maintenance set forth in the latest published version of the “Code of Medical Ethics Current Opinions with Annotations” of the AMA. Physicians are to use professional discretion in determining how long to retain records. Records must be destroyed in a manner that ensures confidentiality is preserved. 

A log must be kept of all charts destroyed, including the patient’s name and date of record destruction.