Bill
SB 5239
SB 5239 requires WA hospitals to retain all medical records for at least 26 years from creation, replacing discharge-based rules and lowering storage/administrative burdens.
Status and key dates
- Bill number: SB 5239 (Substitute)
- Sponsors: Senate Health & Long-Term Care (originally Senators Vandana Slatter, Nobles, and C. Wilson)
- Passed Senate: 49–0 (2/12/2025). Passed House: 98–0 (4/9/2025).
- Governor signed: 4/22/2025. Chapter 131, 2025 Laws.
- Effective date: July 27, 2025 (per engrossed bill).
Purpose and intent
- Simplify and standardize hospital medical record retention by replacing the prior discharge-based retention rules with a single, fixed retention period measured from the date a record was created. The change aims to reduce administrative burden and storage costs caused by difficulty determining patient discharge dates (e.g., transfers between facilities).
What the bill does — key provisions
- Amends RCW 70.41.190 to require hospitals to retain and preserve all medical records for a minimum of 26 years from the date the record was created.
- Permitted media: records may be kept on paper, microfilm, electronically, photographic form, or other media.
- Scope:
- Applies to records created before the act’s effective date that remain in the hospital’s custody on that date, and to records created after the effective date.
- Does not require restoration of records that hospitals lawfully destroyed under the prior statute before the effective date.
- Does not relieve hospitals of any other record-retention obligations under law.
- Definition/clarification:
- All information collected at each unique visit is considered a “medical record” for purposes of the section.
- Hospital closure: if a hospital ceases operations it must immediately arrange (department-approved) preservation of its records.
- Rulemaking: the (state) department is directed to adopt regulations defining the types of records and specific information required to be retained; photographic retention is explicitly permitted pursuant to chapter 5.46 RCW.
Who is affected
- Primary: hospitals and hospital record-storage operations in Washington State (administration, legal/compliance, medical records departments).
- Secondary: patients (access to records), attorneys, researchers, public health entities, and third-party health records custodians.
- Fiscal: no appropriation in the bill; a fiscal note was prepared. Hospitals testified the change could reduce storage costs and administrative burdens.
Legislative process and testimony
- Committee hearings: public hearing (House Health Care & Wellness, 3/25/2025). House committee recommended “do pass.”
- Public testimony: hospitals and UW Medicine supported the change, citing budget and logistical savings; no registered opposition reported.
Practical effect
- Replaces the previous retention rule (10 years after most recent discharge for adults; special minor rule) with a clear, creation-date–based 26-year retention period — simplifying retention calculations and allowing hospitals to dispose of some older records previously retained due to uncertain discharge dates.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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