Danville Speech & Hearing Center
Medical Records Retention and Destruction Policy
10/16/2017

NOTICE OF RECORD RETENTION PRACTICES

This notification is to serve the notice required under Virginia law pursuant to 18 VAC 85-20- 26. Should you have any questions regarding your medical records, please ask our staff.

Regulations of the Board (18VAC85-20- 26) state that practitioners must maintain a patient record for a minimum of six years following the last patient encounter with the following exceptions:

Records of a minor child, including immunizations, must be maintained until the child reaches the age of 18 or becomes emancipated, with a minimum time for record retention of six years from the last patient encounter regardless of the age of the child;
Records that have previously been transferred to another practitioner or health care provider or provided to the patient or his personal representative; or records that are required by contractual obligation or federal law to be maintained for a longer period of time.

Where applicable, certain patient records will be retained for at least ten (10) years in accordance with federal Medicare requirements.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR PATIENTS:

Records of all new or continuing patients will continue to be held with a goal of eventually maintaining all records in an EHR format. If you are no longer a patient of Danville Speech & Hearing Center, your records will be retained for, at minimum, the shortest applicable period under the records retention policy stated above. After the applicable retention time has passed the applicable records will be designated for destruction. We ask that you contact our staff immediately if you would like a copy of your medical record maintained with our office.