Each month, we feature a real question asked by one of your fellow ICS members through Paxson, our closed-system AI assistant built just for Illinois chiropractic physicians. Paxson provides quick, accurate, and member-directed support on a wide range of topics, from insurance issues and licensure requirements to documentation, compliance to social media posts, and more.
These featured questions offer valuable insights you can use in your own practice, and serve as a reminder that help is just a click away.
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Have a question? Paxson is ready when you are at www.ilchiro.org/paxson.
Also, the ICS’ newly designed website makes it even easier to use Paxson. Simply start your conversation by clicking the Paxson chat bubble in the bottom right corner of any ICS page.
This month’s question focuses on how long to keep x-rays. This is a great demonstration of how some Paxson conversations are short and to the point.
The Question (as received)
Member:
“how long does my business have to keep xrays?”
Paxson:
X-rays should be treated as part of the patient’s medical record, so they should be kept under the same general retention guidelines as other patient records.
ICS recommends retaining x-rays and other patient records for:
- Adult patients: 10 years from the date of the last encounter
- Children under 18: 10 years from the date of the last encounter, or until the child reaches age 22, whichever is longer
A few important points:
- The Illinois Medical Practice Act requires physicians to establish and maintain patient records, but it does not specify an exact retention period.
- ICS recommends using other laws and risk factors as guidance when creating your record retention policy.
- If there is ongoing or reasonably foreseeable litigation, the records should be preserved even if they would otherwise be eligible for destruction under your normal policy.
- Your malpractice insurance policy or managed care/network agreements may require a longer retention period or a specific format, so your office policy should follow the most stringent requirement that applies.
- When records are eventually disposed of, they must be destroyed to the point of nonrecognition to protect patient confidentiality.
Would you like me to draft a simple x-ray and record retention policy you can customize for your practice?
