Custodian Of Medical Records Laws in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Medical Records Custodian & Retention Laws

Are you planning to close your medical practice or retire?
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Assists in Notifying Patients of the Practice Closing - Via Email and Closing Practice Letters
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Is Fully HIPAA Compliant
Is Responsible for over 15 million Patient Records
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Wisconsin Medical Record Retention Law:
Wis. Stat. s.146.819 (preservation or destruction of patient health care records)

Adult patients: See the note below - Wisconsin's headline duty for a closing practice is not a retention period at all.
Patients who were minors: No general physician minors period located.
The retention period runs from: Not established for a general physician office.
The '7 years after treatment / minors until 19' figures in circulation come from Wis. Admin. Code ch. DHS 92, which implements Wis. Stat. ch. 51 - the MENTAL HEALTH act - and governs confidentiality of treatment records.
Wis. Stat. s.146.83 is patient access and fees and sets no retention period.
What Wisconsin does set, squarely, is what a provider CEASING PRACTICE must do with the records - see the closure section.

If you are closing, selling or relocating your practice
Wisconsin sets out what has to happen to patient records. The points below are taken from the source above.

WIS. STAT. 146.819 APPLIES DIRECTLY HERE. A health care provider who CEASES PRACTICE must do one of the following with patient health care records: provide for their maintenance BY A PERSON WHO STATES IN WRITING that the records will be maintained in compliance with ss. 146.81 to 146.835; arrange for their deletion or destruction; or divide the records between maintenance and destruction.
That written statement is what a records custodian gives you.
If the records are to be MAINTAINED, the provider must either send written notice by FIRST-CLASS MAIL describing where the records will be kept, or publish a CLASS 3 NEWSPAPER NOTICE in the county where the practice was located.
Before DESTRUCTION, at least 35 DAYS' written notice to the patient's last-known address.

Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin checklist →

Cost
Wis. Stat. s.146.83 (access and fees)

$1.00 per page for the first 25 pages; 75 cents per page for pages 26-50; 50 cents per page for pages 51-100; 30 cents per page for page 101 and above.
$1.50 per page for microfiche or microfilm; $10.00 per X-ray image.
$8.00 certification and a $20.00 retrieval fee for non-patient requesters.
Patients eligible for medical assistance are charged 25% of the applicable fees for one set of copies.

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.