California state law for x-ray film and other medical records retention period.

California law require health care provider to keep x ray film and medical record for a certain period of time.

Hospitals in California must maintain medical records for at least seven years after the date the patient received the last treatment. Records for minors must be kept at least seven years or a minimum of one year after the minor has reached 18.

There is no general rule for how long doctors in California must
keep medical records.

http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/chdp/Documents/CHDPTrain/CHDPSectionXIII.pp

Please note that the federal law requires a retention period of 5-7 years for adults and up to 19 years old for minors.

Disclaimer: The information for retaining periods of x-ray films in CA, brought as courtesy for our silver recovery customers. the information was collected from department of health website and other online sources, however, B.W. recycling, Inc is not responsible for the accuracy of the information on this page and might not be up to date.

HIPAA rule for disposing of x-ray films.

Please note that HIPAA left the responsibility for the x-ray film disposal process with the physicians / facilities, and also gave physicians / facilities the choice of doing an on-site or off-site destruction, however, HIPAA rule does state that the disposal of x ray films and other medical records must be done in a way that preserves the confidentiality of the information.

If you have x-ray film you would like to recycle, please visit our California x-ray film disposal page.

X-Ray film retention in all other states.