US · guidance
CMS SOM App. H, Tag V732
§ 494.170(c) Standard: Record retention and preservation
In accordance with 45 CFR §
164.530(j)(2), all patient records must be retained for 6 years from the date of the patient’s
discharge, transfer, or death.
Interpretive Guidance § 494.170(c)
Note that some states have more stringent requirements for medical record retention. Retention
requirements begin after the patient is no longer on census at the facility.
These retention requirements also apply to the records of machine maintenance, dialyzer
reprocessing/reuse, water treatment, and dialysate preparation, as each of these records is part
of the medical record for the patients on service at the time those records were completed.
Documentation of these processes is retained in logs rather than individual patient records.
Since many patients are treated on the equipment each day, determination of the retention period
may be difficult. Facility policy should address retention of these records.
Page 280 of 420
History
Rev.
Provenance
- Source
- cms.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-07-22
- Edition
- som-2026-07-22
- Content hash
d073235fb4174001fe19dc5eb5c9a1f84ec6658f14895138b6474c6675c38ebb
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