Brooklyn, NY asked in Personal Injury, Health Care Law and Medical Malpractice for New York

Q: Lost records?

Does the hospital and your patient portal only hold your records for 5 years? How do you retrieve your records after that?

3 Lawyer Answers

A: NYS requires 6 yea retention of patient reocrds:

(4) Medical records shall be retained in their original or legally reproduced form for a period of at least six years from the date of discharge or three years after the patient's age of majority (18 years), whichever is longer, or at least six years after death.

10 CRR-NY 405.10NY-CRR

Jonathan R. Ratchik and Tim Akpinar agree with this answer

A: Some entities might retain records longer than the statutory requirements. It could depend on their standard operating procedures. Good luck

A: You can submit a request for your entire medical record (accompanied by a HIPAA authorization) and see what they come up with. In the age of electronic medical records, many medical providers can essentially hold onto a patient's record indefinitely (even if they're not necessarily required to do so).

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