← Virginia medical records custodian and retention laws

Virginia — 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: A minimum of 6 years.
Patients who were minors: Until the child reaches 18 or becomes emancipated, with a minimum of 6 years from the last patient encounter.
Clock starts: The last patient encounter.
Also: Records need not be kept longer than 12 years from creation.
Also: The duty ENDS for records already transferred to another practitioner or provided to the patient.

Before you close — what this state requires

Va. Code 54.1-2405, BINDING AND DIRECTLY ON POINT: no person licensed by the Department of Health Professions may transfer records in conjunction with the CLOSURE, SALE OR RELOCATION of a professional practice until notice has been given.
Notice must be made by electronic communication OR mail to the patient's last known address, AND by publication in a NEWSPAPER OF GENERAL CIRCULATION in the practice area.
The notice must say that records or copies will be sent within a reasonable time to any other like-regulated provider of the patient's choice, or to the patient, and that charges shall NOT EXCEED ACTUAL COSTS of copying and mailing.
'Current patient' for this purpose means a patient seen in the TWO YEARS immediately preceding the record transfer.

What Virginia does not require

Stated so nobody infers a duty that is not there.

The section does NOT address the death of a practitioner - a real gap worth stating rather than glossing.

Where this comes from

Va. Code s.54.1-2910.4
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title54.1/chapter29/section54.1-2910.4/
Va. Code s.54.1-2405 (transfer of records on closure, sale or relocation)
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title54.1/chapter24/section54.1-2405/

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 Virginia. Checklist built 21 September 2026.