In fact, according to reports issued by KLAS, 40% of physician offices and 50% of large hospitals have changed or are in the process of changing EHR vendors.These changes are often necessary to meet the needs of patients and physicians, but they also come with their own set of challenges.

Healthcare organizations create terabytes of patient data every year in the form of clinical records, lab results, imaging and financial records.

State laws and the federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require providers to store all of this information for years and sometimes even decades.An AfterthoughtAs a result, data archiving should be a key component of any healthcare organization’s overall IT plan, but this isn’t always the case.

As it turns out, we’re not the only ones noticing this trend.Nathan Evans, the research manager for KLAS research.

Nathan is responsible for the overseeing of research and reporting for legacy data archiving at KLAS.

We had the pleasure of hosting him on our most recent webinar where he confirmed that this is a common issue.Listen to Nathan speak about KLAS’s research findings on EHR data archival here.He informed us that the neglect of attention to legacy data is a topic KLAS hopes to provide feedback on when they publish their 2019 KLAS Data Archiving Report.

However, underneath this simplistic view of data retention requirements lies state and federal laws, medical association policies, and organizational procedures.Attempting to meet all of these rules and regulations can be exhausting.

The general rule of thumb is to meet the most stringent of all the rules that govern your practice.

Frequently, the strictest laws are those issued by your state.Basics of Data RetentionKeeping medical records is the law.

Creating and executing a data retention process ensures that you will avoid penalties, fines, and the loss of critical certifications.A well-documented and maintained medical record can become vital during possible and actual litigation.

Without a medical record, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals won’t be able to provide proof of services delivered to meet the required standard of care rules.Federal RulesThe Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 requires you keep medical records for six years from the date of creation or the last patient contact, whichever is later.

Of course, at the end of this period, you need to have a process for data disposal, which also falls under the physical safeguard rules of HIPAA for medical records and other forms of protected health information (PHI).To further complicate retention requirements, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued their own set of rules for both financial and medical data.