New Mexico Medical Records Retention Laws (2026 Guide)

New Mexico requires hospitals to retain patient medical records for at least 10 years after the last discharge and physicians to retain records for at least 10 years after the date of last treatment, under NMSA 14-6-2 and NMAC 16.10.17.10. NMSA 14-6-2 does not set a separate retention period for minor patients; hospital records of minors follow the same 10-year rule as other patients.

New Mexico has specific laws governing how long hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare facilities must keep patient medical records. The primary statute is NMSA 14-6-2, which addresses hospital record retention, while the New Mexico Administrative Code sets additional rules for individual physicians. This guide breaks down the retention requirements by provider type, explains how federal rules like HIPAA and CMS overlap with state law, and covers patient rights to access, copy, and transfer medical records.

Understanding these timelines matters. Whether you are a patient trying to obtain old records, a provider managing storage, or a practice winding down operations, the rules determine what must be kept, for how long, and what happens when records are no longer required.

Hospital Records Retention Requirements Under NMSA 14-6-2

New Mexico's primary medical records retention statute is NMSA 14-6-2, titled "Hospital records; retention." This law applies to all licensed hospitals in the state and sets clear minimum timelines.

General Retention Period

Hospitals must retain and preserve all records directly relating to the care and treatment of a patient for a period of 10 years following the last discharge of the patient. This includes admission records, nursing notes, physician orders, surgical reports, diagnostic results, and all other documentation created during the patient's care.

Records for Minor Patients

NMSA 14-6-2's four subsections set a flat 10-year retention period from the patient's last discharge and do not distinguish between minor and adult patients. The statute's text contains no age-21 threshold or other minor-specific extension; hospital records of minors are subject to the same 10-year rule as any other patient's records.

Laboratory Records

NMSA 14-6-2 contains a specific carve-out for laboratory test records and reports. These may be destroyed one year after the date of the test, provided that a copy of the results has been placed in the patient's main medical record. If no copy was placed in the patient's chart, the lab records must be retained for four years from the date of the test.

X-Ray Films

NMSA 14-6-2 also carves out a shorter period for X-ray films. A hospital may destroy X-ray films four years after the date of exposure, provided the hospital record retains the written findings of the radiologist who read the films. Those written findings themselves must still be kept for the standard 10-year period under the statute's general rule. Patients may request the return of their own X-ray films after the third year following exposure.

Microfilm and Electronic Storage

The statute explicitly permits hospitals to retain records in microfilm or other photographically reproduced formats. Records preserved in these formats are deemed originals for the purposes of the rules of evidence under New Mexico Supreme Court rules. This provision extends to electronic storage systems, which are now the standard across most facilities.

Physician Records Retention Requirements Under NMAC 16.10.17

Individual physicians licensed by the New Mexico Medical Board have separate retention obligations under NMAC 16.10.17.10, which is part of the Medical Board's administrative code on medical records.

Standard Retention Period for Physicians

Physicians must retain medical records that they own for at least 10 years after the date of last treatment, or for the timeframe set by applicable state or federal insurance laws, or by Medicare and Medicaid regulations, whichever is longer.

Minor Patient Records

For physician-owned records involving minor patients, the records must be retained until the patient reaches 21 years of age. If the 10-year standard period extends beyond the patient's 21st birthday, the longer period applies.

Electronic Conversion Requirements

When a physician converts paper medical records to electronic format, the original hard copies must be retained for a minimum of 30 days after the electronic transfer is complete. This safeguard ensures the digital copies are verified before originals are discarded.

Medical Billing Records

Physicians must retain medical billing information for at least two years after the date of last treatment. This is a separate requirement from clinical record retention and applies to billing codes, payment records, and insurance correspondence.

Patient Notification of Retention Policies

Under NMAC 16.10.17.10, every physician must provide patients with a written copy of their medical records retention, maintenance, and destruction policy. This written policy must include:

• Contact information for obtaining or transferring records
• How records can be obtained or transferred to another provider
• How long records will be maintained before destruction
• The cost of obtaining copies or transferring records

This requirement ensures patients are informed about their records throughout the provider relationship.

Other Provider Types and Facility Regulations

New Mexico's retention rules vary somewhat depending on the type of healthcare facility or provider.

Osteopathic Physicians

Osteopathic physicians (DOs) are licensed by the New Mexico Medical Board, the same board that licenses MDs. New Mexico's separate Osteopathic Medicine Act was repealed by Laws 2021, chapter 54, and the Medical Practice Act now defines a "licensed physician" as a medical or osteopathic physician licensed under that act, with osteopathic physicians listed among the practitioners the board licenses (NMSA 61-6-6). DOs therefore follow the same records rule as MDs, NMAC 16.10.17.10: at least 10 years after the date of last treatment, and until the patient turns 21 for records of minor patients.

Long-Term Care Facilities

Long-term care and nursing facilities in New Mexico must maintain medical records for each resident for 10 years following death or discharge, under NMAC 8.370.16.31, the Health Care Authority rule that replaced 7.9.2 NMAC effective July 1, 2024. These records include nursing documentation, physician progress notes, medication administration records, and discharge orders.

Podiatric Physicians

Podiatric physicians licensed in New Mexico must retain medical records for at least seven years under NMAC 16.21.12.10. Records for minor patients must be kept for at least two years beyond the date the patient turns 18.

How Federal Law Interacts with New Mexico Requirements

Federal regulations do not replace New Mexico's retention rules but add additional layers that providers must follow. The general principle is that providers must comply with whichever rule, state or federal, requires the longer retention period.

HIPAA and Records Retention

A common misconception is that HIPAA requires providers to keep medical records for a set number of years. It does not. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not include medical record retention requirements. Instead, state laws govern how long records must be kept.

What HIPAA does require is that covered entities retain certain HIPAA-related documentation for six years. Under 45 CFR 164.530(j), providers must keep policies, procedures, and communications related to HIPAA compliance for six years from the date of creation or the date the document was last in effect, whichever is later. This applies to privacy policies, authorization forms, and breach notification records, not to patient medical charts themselves.

HIPAA also requires that providers apply appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information (PHI) in any form, including during disposal of records.

CMS and Medicare Conditions of Participation

Hospitals that participate in Medicare must meet the Conditions of Participation (CoPs) under 42 CFR 482.24. These federal rules require hospitals to retain medical records in their original or legally reproduced form for a period of at least five years. Since New Mexico's 10-year requirement exceeds this federal minimum, New Mexico providers must follow the state's longer timeframe.

For Medicare billing records specifically, CMS generally requires retention for seven years from the date of service. Providers participating in Medicare Advantage or accountable care organizations may face even longer retention obligations under their contracts.

Medicaid Records

Under NMSA 27-11-4, New Mexico medicaid providers, managed care organizations and their subcontractors must retain all medical and business records needed to verify a recipient's covered treatment, the goods and services paid for, and the amounts paid for at least six years from the date of creation of the record. The trigger is the date the record was created, not the date of service. Since NMSA 14-6-2 requires 10 years for hospitals, that longer period takes precedence for hospital records.

Patient Rights to Access Medical Records in New Mexico

New Mexico law and HIPAA both give patients strong rights to access their own medical records.

Right to Obtain Copies

Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, patients have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of their medical records held by covered entities. Providers must respond to a records request within 30 days, with the option to extend by an additional 30 days if the provider notifies the patient in writing of the reason for the delay.

Under NMAC 16.10.17.8, physicians must provide complete copies of medical records to a patient or to another physician in a timely manner when legally requested. Records may not be withheld because an account is overdue or because the patient owes a bill for treatment or other services.

Copy Fees

New Mexico administrative code sets specific limits on what physicians may charge for copying medical records. A reasonable charge is defined as:

• $30 for the first 15 pages
• $0.25 per page for each additional page beyond 15

For electronic records and non-paper formats such as imaging studies, providers may charge the actual cost of reproduction. The New Mexico Medical Board reviews these fee limits periodically.

Confidentiality Protections

Under NMSA 14-6-1, all health information that relates to and identifies specific individuals as patients is strictly confidential. This information cannot be made a matter of public record or accessible to the public, even when it is held by a government agency, state educational institution, or licensed health facility.

Statistical studies and research reports based on confidential health information may be published, but they must not identify individual patients directly or indirectly.

Records Destruction Requirements

Once the applicable retention period has expired, New Mexico law permits providers to destroy records under specific conditions.

Hospital Record Destruction

Under NMSA 14-6-2, after the 10-year retention period, a hospital may destroy records without incurring liability. The law specifies several important restrictions:

• Destruction must be by burning, shredding, or other effective method that maintains the confidential nature of the records
• Records must be destroyed in the ordinary course of business
• No record may be destroyed on an individual basis. Destruction must be part of a routine, systematic process

This last requirement prevents targeted destruction of specific patient files, which could raise concerns about evidence tampering or selective record-keeping.

Physician Record Destruction

Under NMAC 16.10.17.10, physicians must destroy records by shredding, incinerating (where permitted), or by other methods of permanent destruction. This includes purging medical records from computer hard drives, server hard drives, and other electronic media in accordance with existing practices for data deletion.

Physicians must maintain a destruction log that records the patient's name and the date of record destruction for each chart destroyed. This log provides a verifiable trail showing that records were properly disposed of according to policy.

HIPAA Disposal Requirements

The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires that covered entities apply appropriate safeguards when disposing of protected health information in any form. The HHS Office for Civil Rights has clarified that acceptable disposal methods include shredding paper records, degaussing or destroying electronic media, and using a certified records destruction vendor.

What Happens When a Physician Closes a Practice

New Mexico has detailed regulations addressing what physicians must do with medical records when closing, selling, or relocating a practice.

Patient Notification Requirements

Under NMAC 16.10.17, physicians closing a practice must notify all active patients and any patients seen within the previous three years at least 30 days before the closure. If the physician has died, the executor of the estate or a designated representative must notify patients within 30 days of the physician's death.

Required Notification Content

The notification must inform patients:

• Where their records will be stored after the practice closes
• The name, mailing address, and telephone number of a contact person
• How to request that records be transferred to another provider

Public Notice

In addition to direct patient notification, the physician (or estate) must place a notice in at least one newspaper in the local practice area. This notice should run a minimum of two times per month for three months to reach as many patients as possible.

The physician must also send notification to the New Mexico Medical Board office at least 30 days before closing, by email, fax, or letter.

Practice Sales and Transfers

When a medical practice is sold to another physician or entity, all active patients must be notified that the new owner will retain custody of their records. Patients must be offered the opportunity to have their records transferred to a different provider of their choice at the patient's written request.

When a physician leaves a group practice, patients must be notified of the departure, given the physician's new address, and offered the chance to have records transferred to the departing physician at the new practice location.

Summary of New Mexico Medical Records Retention Periods