N.M. Admin. Code § 16.21.12.10

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 23, December 10, 2024

Section 16.21.12.10 - RETENTION, MAINTENANCE AND DESTRUCTION OF MEDICAL RECORDS

A. Improper management of medical records, including failure to maintain timely, accurate, legible and complete medical records constitutes unprofessional conduct under the board's rules adopted pursuant to Subsection H of 61-8-11 NMSA 1978. Podiatric physicians must maintain and make available upon request a written copy of their policy or their employer's policy for medical record retention, maintenance and destruction.

B. Written medical record policy shall include:

(1) responsible entity/agent name of contact to obtain records or request transfer of records, telephone number and mailing address;

(2) how the records can be obtained or transferred;

(3) how long the records will be maintained before they are destroyed; and

(4) cost of obtaining copies of records, and of recovering records/transferring records.

C. Electronic medical record policy shall include:

(1) responsible entity/agent name of contact to obtain records or request transfer of records, telephone number and mailing address;

(2) how the records can be obtained or transferred;

(3) how long the records will be maintained before destroyed;

(4) a data backup plan, disaster recovery plan and storage which ensures retrievability into reasonably usable form on a timely basis upon any request; and

(5) transfer of data via electronic file with appropriate safeguards to ensure patient confidentiality.

D. Podiatric physicians must retain medical records that they own for at least seven years. Medical records for patients who are minors must be retained for at least two years beyond the date that the patient is 18 years old.

E. Podiatric physicians shall retain medical billing information for at least two years after the date of last treatment.

F. A log must be kept of all charts destroyed, including the patient's name and date of record destruction.

G. If conversion of hard copies of medical records occurs to electronic format, the hard copy shall be retained by the physician for a minimum of 30 days after electronic transfer has occurred.

H. Destruction of medical records must be such that confidentiality is maintained. Records must be destroyed by shredding, incinerating (where permitted) or by other method of permanent destruction, including purging of medical records from a computer hard drive, server hard drive or other computer media or disk in accordance with existing practices for data deletion then available.

N.M. Admin. Code § 16.21.12.10

16.21.12.10 NMAC - N, 07-29-11, Adopted by New Mexico Register, Volume XXX, Issue 08, April 23, 2019, eff. 5/3/2019