New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 16 - OCCUPATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSING
Chapter 21 - PODIATRISTS
Part 12 - MANAGEMENT OF MEDICAL RECORDS
Section 16.21.12.10 - RETENTION, MAINTENANCE AND DESTRUCTION OF MEDICAL RECORDS

Universal Citation: 16 NM Admin Code 16.21.12.10

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024

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.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. New Mexico may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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