Risk Management FAQ's

North Carolina - Just how long medical records should be kept depends upon the type of record, its potential use and specific legal requirements.

By statute, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Resources is charged with creating policy regarding "health care facilities", including hospitals. According to the DHR's Rules, medical records of a facility must be maintained for at least 11 years after an adult patient's discharge. Minor patients' facility records are handled differently; they should be kept until the patient reaches their 30th birthday.

North Carolina does not have a medical office record retention statute. We therefore recommend that these records be maintained for as long as "facility" records are.

Finally, records should be kept indefinitely in riskier situations, including where there is an undesirable outcome, where the patient was or might have been legally incompetent at the time of treatment or becomes legally competent thereafter (including cases involving brain damage, Alzheimer's Disease and other mental and emotional disabilities), when a patient is unhappy with a result or any time a patient threatens or files a lawsuit.

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The risk management advice presented in this Site is intended as general information of interest to physicians and other healthcare professionals. The recommendations and advice published on this Site do not reflect or establish a standard of care and do not establish rules for the practice of medicine. The publication of this information is not intended as an offer to insure such conditions or exposures, or to indicate that MAG Mutual Insurance Company will underwrite such risks for the reader. Our liability is limited to the specific written terms and conditions of actual insurance policies issued.