Ohio
Medical Records Custodian & Retention Laws
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Ohio Medical Record Retention Law:
Ohio Rev. Code s.4731.228 (notice on termination, sale or retirement)
- Adult patients: Not primary-confirmed. The period commonly quoted for Ohio traces to billing rules by way of a trade-association document, which is not an acceptable source for a legal duty. What IS confirmed for Ohio is the patient-notice duty below.
- Patients who were minors: Not established from a primary source.
- The retention period runs from: Not established from a primary source.
- What IS primary-confirmed for Ohio is the patient-notice duty in ORC 4731.228, set out in the closure section.
If you are closing, selling or relocating your practice Ohio sets out what has to happen to patient records. The points below are taken from the source above.
- ORC 4731.228: when a physician's employment with a health care entity terminates for any reason, NOTICE MUST BE SENT TO EACH PATIENT who received physician services from that physician IN THE TWO-YEAR PERIOD immediately preceding the termination date.
- DEADLINE: not later than the date of termination, or thirty days after the entity has actual knowledge of the termination or resignation, WHICHEVER IS LATER.
- WHO SENDS IT: the health care entity, unless it gives the physician the patient contact information, in which case it may require the physician to send it.
- IT ALSO BINDS THE INDEPENDENT PHYSICIAN: a physician who is an independent contractor, or who practises at an entity that is not a health care entity, or who has an ownership interest in one, must give the same notice when LEAVING, SELLING OR RETIRING - to all patients seen in the two years preceding their last date of seeing patients.
- REQUIRED CONTENT includes the effective date, the physician's name and contact information, contact details for alternative physicians or group practices, and INFORMATION ENABLING THE PATIENT TO OBTAIN INFORMATION ON THEIR MEDICAL RECORDS.
- Exemptions exist for emergency and episodic care, hospices, medical residents, community mental health providers and federally qualified health centres - do not state the rule without them.
Ohio closing-practice checklist
The same requirements as a checklist you can print and work through, with the retention periods, the notice each rule requires and what you may charge for copies.
Open the Ohio checklist →
Cost
No state copying-fee schedule was located for Ohio. Charges should be reasonable and cost-based.
Retention figure NOT primary-confirmed. Verified September 2026
This page summarises the source above and is not legal advice. Retention periods change and several states adjust their copying fees every year, so confirm the current text before you rely on a date or a figure.