Retention periods

General information
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The periods mentioned below are minimum retention periods. However, according to the German Civil Code, civil law claims of a patient against his or her physician only become statute-barred after 30 years. It is therefore recommended that the documentation documents be retained at least until it is clearly established that no more claims for damages can arise from medical treatment. In the case of documents of deceased patients, a shorter period may be appropriate, as it is rather unlikely that relatives will assert claims for damages within 30 years. However, the minimum retention periods also apply to the records of deceased patients. Scanned documents are subject to the same retention periods as written documents.

Literature
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KVWL (2006) What has to be stored and for how long. KVWL plus point 7-8

Tables
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Document	Duration (years)
Outpatient surgery (records and documentation)	10
Certificates of incapacity for work (copy of the yellow triple set, Part C)	1
Medical records	10
Doctor's letters (own and others)	10
Medical records (including examination results)	10
Medical treatment documents	10
Billing slips (for diskette billing)	1
Records (of the doctor in his file)	10
Findings	10
Reports (referral and family doctor)	10
Occupational Disability Opinion	10
narcotics (BTM prescription copies, BTM index cards, narcotics books)	3
Notifications of findings	10
Treatment with radioactive substances and ionising radiation	30
Blood products (use of blood products and genetically engineered plasma proteins for the treatment of haemastasis disorders)	15
DMP documents	10
Transit doctor procedures/doctor procedures (medical documents including medical records and X-rays)	15
EEG strips	10
ECG strips after completion of treatment	10
Substitute procedures, settlement slips	1
Youth employment protection investigation (investigation form)	10
Health examination (Part B of the report form after the examination)	5
Expert opinions on patients (for health insurance companies, insurance companies, professional associations)	10
H-doctors (treatment documents including x-rays)	15
Home nursing care (Ordinance, to be repealed only if this certificate is the sole documentation and no other retention periods are specified below)	10
Ordinances on Therapeutic Products (Ordinance, to be repealed only if this certificate is the sole documentation and no other retention periods are mentioned below).	10
Youth employment protection investigation (investigation form)	10
Youth health examination (report forms, documentation)	5
Index cards (including medical records and examination results)	10
Colonoscopy (Part B of the report form)	5
Control cards on internal quality assurance and certificates on successful participation in interlaboratory comparisons	5
Inpatient hospital reports (after completion of treatment)	10
Health insurance enquiries (copies)	10
Hospital treatment (prescription, hospitalisation part C)	10
Hospital reports	10
Early childhood diagnosis examinations (medical records)	10
Cancer Screening Women (Report Form Part A)	5
Cancer Screening (Men Report Form Part A)	5
Laboratory quality assurance (control cards)	5
Laboratory (certificates of interlaboratory tests)	5
Laboratory (internal quality assurance)	5
Laboratory Book	10
Laboratory findings	10
Long-term ECG (computer evaluation, no tapes)	10
Lung function diagnostics (diagrams)	10
Emergency certificate (Part A, computerised billing doctors)	1
Emergency certificates (parts B and C, to be cancelled only if this certificate is the sole documentation and no other retention periods are mentioned below).	10
Patient file (after the last treatment)	10
Psychotherapy (notification of the health insurance company)	10
X-ray (constancy tests and documentation)	2
X-ray diagnostics (X-ray images of patients over 18 years. The 10-year retention period does not begin until the patient is 18 years old, so all radiographs of children and adolescents must be retained at least until the patient is 28 years old).	10
X-ray therapy (recordings)	30
Backup diskette (billing with KV)	4
Sonography (recordings, photos, prints, diskettes)	10
Radiation and X-ray treatment, therapy (recording, calculations after the last treatment)	30
Radiation and X-ray diagnostics (records, films after the last examination, also using radioactive and ionising radiation. The 10-year retention period does not begin until the patient is 18 years old, so all X-ray images of children and adolescents must be retained at least until the patient is 28 years old).	10
Radiation protection test (documents)	5
Radiation protection (documents on staff training)	5
Transfusion law (see blood products)	15
referral slip (computerised billing doctors, also in substitute procedure, also sample 7 referral before starting psychotherapy)	1
Examination results	10
Representative's certificate part A (doctors who use computerised billing)	1
Representative's certificate Part B and C (Part C to be cancelled only if this certificate is the sole documentation and no other retention periods are specified below)	10
Certificates of proficiency tests	5
Cytology (preparations and findings)	10
Cytology (statistical summaries)	10