Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: I work for a medical billing company and have a question regarding the retention of medical and billing records. For some clients, we receive the original explanation of benefits, checks, and other payment vouchers, although the actual billing records and encounter forms are copies. For other clients, both billing and remittance statements are copies. How long are we required to keep these records?

Mississippi Subscriber

Answer: The laws related to the retention of billing records vary by state, so as a billing company, you will need to check the requirements for each state where your client is providing services. Mississippi, for example, requires doctors to keep medical records for six years.

Here is a handy tool to help you research other state requirements: https://recordinglaw.com/medical-records-retention-laws-by-state/.