← Ohio medical records custodian and retention laws

Ohio — 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: 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.
Clock starts: Not established from a primary source.
Also: What IS primary-confirmed for Ohio is the patient-notice duty in ORC 4731.228, set out in the closure section.

Before you close — what this state requires

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.

Where this comes from

Ohio Rev. Code s.4731.228 (notice on termination, sale or retirement)
https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4731.228

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: Retention figure NOT primary-confirmed. Verified September 2026

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