Panel hears bill to set 26-year retention period for hospital medical records

The Senate Health Care & Wellness Committee heard testimony March 25 on substitute Senate Bill 5,239, which would set hospital medical-record retention at 26 years from the record’s creation date and eliminate differences between adult and minor records.

Jim Morishima, staff to the committee, said the bill makes the retention period “26 years from the date the record was created” and permits hospitals to retain records on paper, microfilm, electronic media or other media. He told the committee the change removes reliance on discharge date as the retention trigger and applies the new rule to records still in a hospital’s custody on the act’s effective date; records destroyed before that date would not be covered.

Senator Vandana Slatter, the bill’s prime sponsor, said hospitals sought simplification to reduce storage costs and administrative complexity. “By changing the discharge date as a retention-period start, we change it now to when the record is created,” Slatter said, adding that the bill would allow hospitals to destroy outdated records and save money the hospitals could redirect to patient care. Rashi, testifying for UW Medicine, said the current reference to most recent discharge date makes retention difficult because trauma and emergent patients often transfer to other providers without a formal discharge date.

Committee members asked no additional questions during the hearing. Supporters said the change was requested by multiple hospital systems to address practical record-keeping challenges, reduce long-term storage costs and bring consistency across hospitals. The committee did not take a floor vote during the public hearing; the bill was later listed among other bills in the committee’s executive session for consideration.