← Kentucky medical records custodian and retention laws

Kentucky — Medical Records Checklist

For a practice that is closing, being sold, relocating or whose physician is retiring. Prepared 21 September 2026.

How long records must be kept

Adult patients: The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure sets NO retention period for physicians. The whole of 201 KAR Chapter 9 was read and contains no medical-records regulation.
Patients who were minors: None set by the Board.
Clock starts: Not applicable - no board clock exists.
Also: The operative floors are HIPAA's 6 years and the malpractice limitation period.
Also: Kentucky's retention rules that do exist are the HOSPITAL licensure rules and bind hospitals, not private offices.

What Kentucky does not require

Stated so nobody infers a duty that is not there.

None located for physicians anywhere in 201 KAR chapter 9.
Searching for a Kentucky physician retention rule surfaces 201 KAR 16:701, 'Standards for medical records', whose text reads perfectly on point - five years from the last patient encounter, 'the practice where the records were prepared shall be the official records custodian', and 'cessation from practice, either temporarily or permanently, does not relieve the practitioner from compliance with this section'. IT IS THE KENTUCKY BOARD OF VETERINARY EXAMINERS. Now that chapter 9 has been read end to end and contains no records rule, the pull toward that veterinary regulation gets STRONGER for anyone looking for a Kentucky answer.

Where this comes from

201 KAR Chapter 9 (Board of Medical Licensure) - full chapter listing
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/201/009/

Read this before you act on it. Every statement above was taken from the state's own published rule or statute and is quoted or closely paraphrased from it. It is a working checklist, not legal advice, and it is a snapshot: retention periods change, and several states adjust their copying fees every year. Confirm the current text with the source listed above, or with your attorney, before you rely on a date or a dollar figure.

Figures stated as of: Verified September 2026

Prepared by Morgan Records Management for Kentucky. Checklist built 21 September 2026.