HIPAA Patient Data Retention time for South Carolina, SC – How Long Should I Keep My Patient Files?

A common question for doctors, medical professionals, and IT staff who deal with patient data, medical files, or HIPAA related info is, “How long do I need to keep all of our patient records?”

HIPAA protects patients’ rights to access their personal files.  Patient Data and access to Patient Files in the state of South Carolina should be stored and accessible for a time period of 10 years for adults from the last treatment and 13 years from the last treatment for children.

According to hss.gov’s website,  HIPAA doesn’t designate a particular period of time for file retention. It does clearly state that a reasonable effort needs to be saved, stored, backed-up, and retrievable.  It also allows the states to make their own time retrieval policies.  According to healthit.gov’s website, in South Carolina, the retention time for Patient Data is 10/Years.  The website also shows other state laws in regard to their retention policies.