Minnesota Session Laws - 1983, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1983 

                        CHAPTER 237--S.F.No. 800
           An act relating to health; providing for retention and 
          destruction of certain medical records; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 145.32. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 145.32, is 
amended to read: 
    145.32 [OLD RECORDS MAY BE DESTROYED.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [HOSPITAL RECORDS.] The superintendent or 
other chief administrative officer of any such public or private 
hospital, by and with the consent and approval of such the board 
of directors or other governing body thereof of the hospital, is 
authorized to may divest the files and records of such that 
hospital of any such individual case records bearing dates more 
than three years prior to the date of such the divestiture and, 
with such that consent and approval, to may destroy the same 
records.  Such The records shall first have been transferred and 
recorded as authorized in section 145.30.  
    Portions of individual hospital medical records that 
comprise an individual permanent medical record, as defined by 
the commissioner of health, shall be retained as authorized in 
section 145.30.  Other portions of the individual medical 
record, including any miscellaneous documents, papers, and 
correspondence in connection with them, may be divested and 
destroyed after seven years without transfer to photographic 
film.  
    All portions of individual hospital medical records of 
minors shall be maintained for seven years following the age of 
majority.  
    Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the 
retention of hospital medical records beyond the periods 
described in this section.  Nor shall anything in this section 
be construed to prohibit patient access to hospital medical 
records as provided in section 144.335.  
    Subd. 2.  [RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH.] 
The commissioner of health shall define by rule the term 
"individual permanent medical record" by enumerating the 
specific types of records or other information which, at a 
minimum, must be maintained on a permanent basis by the hospital.
    Approved June 1, 1983