A family member is the sole proprietor/employee of a business that generates very specific medical records that fall under HIPAA. It's my understanding that any heirs of the family member's estate would be obligated to store those records and make them available for up to 15 years.

My question is how do you do this? I'm familiar with records retention and storage (both paper and electronic files), but accessibility usually falls to the owner of the records. Of the three potential heirs, none of us have expertise in this field. Are there reputable companies out there who will both store the records and be a POC for any patients want their records? Will the company "certify" the records are being properly handled (if someone were to ever ask)? How much does something like this cost (five figures? six? more?).

Has anyone here had to deal with something like this and be willing to share examples? I have no idea how serious of an issue this could be (maybe I'mmaking a mountain out of a molehill?).

Is the 15 year period expected to be in "an easily accessible place?"

The industry I work in has record retention requirements that usually fall between 6-10 years with the first two years being "easily accessible." So onsite the first two years and then boxed up and sent to iron mountain.

03_Aggie said:

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Is the 15 year period expected to be in "an easily accessible place?"

The industry I work in has record retention requirements that usually fall between 6-10 years with the first two years being "easily accessible." So onsite the first two years and then boxed up and sent to iron mountain.

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That actually is part of my question. I also work in a field that has records retention requirements. But they aren't medical records. I would think they would have to be accessible, but I don't know.

Have you spoken with the owner about your questions?

26.2 said:

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Have you spoken with the owner about your questions?

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The owner isn't going to know. 30+ years of records are currently stored in a small office where the business operates. That's why I'm asking. When we have this discussion, I'm going to have to go armed with information. There is also some concern that something could happen to the business owner before any of this gets taken care of - at which point, the three of us will be on our own to figure it out.

if you don't have access to someone familiar with the requirements then I'd suggest starting with whatever rule explains the record keeping requirements.

Records are retrievable from iron mountain just not sure what their turnaround time is. I guess if you have a requirement to complete record request in a short amount of time then an offsite service may pose a challenge.

Also, if I remember correctly, they charge by the box.

03_Aggie said:

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if you don't have access to someone familiar with the requirements then I'd suggest starting with whatever rule explains the record keeping requirements.

Records are retrievable from iron mountain just not sure what their turnaround time is. I guess if you have a requirement to complete record request in a short amount of time then an offsite service may pose a challenge.

Also, if I remember correctly, they charge by the box.

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I am familiar with Iron Mountain and figured they would be a go-to if this became a DIY situation for me. But, what I was really hoping for is a referral to an attorney or some other consultant who has experience with closing a medical practice and would essentially provide a checklist of all the things that need to be done (I'm sure there are tax records that need to be retained, too). If I had a name, I could point this family member in that direction and hopefully get this process started.

Would it be possible to sell the practice?

BigPuma said:

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Would it be possible to sell the practice?

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This.

BigPuma said:

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Would it be possible to sell the practice?

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I wish that were an option. Unfortunately, there would likely not be any buyers. It's a small practice in a highly specialized field. The area where it's located is not a large population, so there aren't a lot of practitioners who would even be interested in purchasing, and they would get all of the displaced business anyway. So, there would be no incentive to purchase.

If you sold it for $1 would it be worth it to absolve you of the liability?

PedroJack07 said:

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If you sold it for $1 would it be worth it to absolve you of the liability?

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If it were just me, yes. But I'm in the position of potentially being an heir. If I were to inherit this business as part of the owner's estate, it's my understanding that I wouldn't necessarily be able to do that (at least not until some dollar value was assigned to the assets).

As far as the owner goes, I'm not sure they could be convinced that is the best option. What I want to see happen is that this person put a plan in place to close the business over the next X years. That way, even if the process isn't complete, we would have a path forward to finish it out. I just need the guidance of someone who has experience doing this, as I don't think the owner is motivated to do anything otherwise (it's a lot easier to procrastinate and let it be someone else's problem).

accidental fire and all records burn, problem solved

I have absolutely zero knowledge in ANY of this, but I'm curious because it is such a random and specific thread.

Is there not a way to provide the medical records directly to the patients and it no longer becomes your problem? Is that a thing when a medical practice closes?

Quote:

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accidental fire and all records burn, problem solved

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This actually sounds like a fantastic solution to me. I guess I can hope...

Quote:

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I have absolutely zero knowledge in ANY of this, but I'm curious because it is such a random and specific thread.

Is there not a way to provide the medical records directly to the patients and it no longer becomes your problem? Is that a thing when a medical practice closes?

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It seems random and specific, probably because we tend to think of medical doctors as being the ones who deal with patient records, and most doctors are either part of a practice or employed by a hospital. So, there are other doctors that the records can be transferred to (not to mention an administrative staff to help).

But if you stop and think about it, this is probably a little more common than we realize. In addition to doctors who are still in small, independent, solo practices, there are eye doctors, dentists, mental health practitioners, and audiologists who deal with HIPAA-governed records. And then, of course, there would be just the standard business issues (i.e., tax records) that would have to be dealt with if a solo business owner suddenly becomes incapacitated. I honestly think that part of the reason my family member isn't dealing with any of this is because they feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start.

So, I know this is an issue, I'm just trying to look for someone who has been through it. I was hoping maybe someone who had a parent who closed a solo medical pratice (either before or after the parent's death) would chime in.

If I were to inherit this problem, I don't have the time or the resources to go through every medical record and contact every potential patient or mail them their records (nor do I want to do it). Not to mention, it involves about 30 years of patient records, many of which involve workers' compensation claims. So, I would have to outsource it - I just don't know who it would be outsourced to. If all I would potentially have to do is destroy the records, then the solution would be easy.

They can be stored off site with an iron mountain type service. I only know this because part of my job involves hospital site visits in which medical records must be reviewed and at least 80% of the hospitals I deal with are paper based. We try to give hospitals 2 weeks notice with the specific records we need because a lot of them move charts off site after 30 days. I'm no help with the details on how they do it or what the legal requirements are, though.

You may also want to look into an "emr" of sorts. I say "emr" because the type I'm thinking of are just a repository for scanned documents. There's no massive database with tons of data fields, just records that can be pulled up by a handful of data points (patient acct, med rec number, discharge date, name). These are my least favorite type of "emr" because they're useless for what I do with the records but sounds like it would take care of what you need.

Where are you getting the 15 years from? HIPAA is typically 7 years and Medicare requires 10

Found this on the Texas Medical Association website: https://texmed.inreachce.com/Mobile/Details/50842ffc-1533-4472-9b8c-e1c9b0946f7e

Not sure if the practice is in Texas. Each state medical board should have requirements for dealing with patient records when closing a practice and requirements for patient notification. It's been a while since I looked but it seems that in Texas, there just needs to be public notification (in our area, an ad in the newspaper will suffice).

hot_rod_9384 said:

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Where are you getting the 15 years from? HIPAA is typically 7 years and Medicare requires 10

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The requirements vary from state to state. Just a quick inquiry to someone when I first started thinking about this, and I was told it would be as long as 15, depending on the state.

You may not be able to "own" the practice depending on state board rules if you don't hold a current medical license. Not sure that helps but something to consider.

atmdds03 said:

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You may not be able to "own" the practice depending on state board rules if you don't hold a current medical license. Not sure that helps but something to consider.

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Good point. This particular service I don't think is governed by the state medical board (at least not in the state where it is located). At least it wasn't at one time (it was licensed by the same group that does nail and hair salons). I haven't talked to the business owner about that recently to know if it's changed. I did get some names of attorneys who have expertise in this area from another contact.