§351 Disposal of Patient Records

Summary

When a health care business files for bankruptcy under chapter 7, 9, or 11 and the trustee does not have enough money to keep patient records as the law requires, the trustee must act to notify people and then dispose of unclaimed records. The trustee must publish a notice in one or more newspapers saying that any patient records not claimed by the patient or the patient’s insurance company (if the law allows the insurer to claim them) within 365 days will be destroyed. During the first 180 days of that 365-day period the trustee must also try to mail a notice to each patient (or a family/contact) and to the appropriate insurer at the most recent known address. If records remain unclaimed after 365 days, the trustee must send by certified mail a written request to each relevant Federal agency asking permission to deposit the records with that agency (agencies may refuse). If no one claims the records and no agency accepts them, the trustee must destroy them: paper records must be shredded or burned, and electronic records (magnetic, optical, or other) must be destroyed so they cannot be retrieved.