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Data Retention Policies

ChatMD provides configurable retention periods for clinical conversations, audit logs, and patient documents. Policies can be set at the healthcare organization level with department-specific overrides, allowing you to align data lifecycle management with your regulatory requirements and risk management strategy.

Why Retention Policies Matter in Healthcare

Healthcare organizations must balance competing requirements:

  • Retain records long enough to meet medical record retention laws (typically 6-10 years for adults, longer for minors) and support continuity of care
  • Minimize data exposure by not retaining PHI longer than necessary, reducing breach risk and storage costs

What Can Be Configured

ChatMD allows independent retention periods for different data types:

  • Clinical conversations — AI-assisted discussions about patient care, including queries and responses
  • Audit logs — Records of who accessed what patient information and when
  • Patient documents — Uploaded medical records, lab results, and clinical notes

Each data type can have its own retention period, and departments can override organization defaults when clinical or regulatory requirements differ (for example, pediatrics departments often require longer retention for minor patients).

Typical Healthcare Retention Periods

Data Type Typical Requirement
Clinical conversations 6-10 years (varies by state)
Audit logs 6 years (HIPAA requirement)
Patient documents 6-10+ years (varies by state and record type)

Note: Always consult your compliance officer and legal counsel to determine appropriate retention periods for your jurisdiction and specialty.

How Retention Works

  • Retention cleanup runs automatically on a scheduled basis
  • Data older than the configured retention period is eligible for deletion
  • Audit logs are archived before deletion to preserve integrity verification
  • All deletions are permanently documented for compliance reporting

Legal Hold Override

Data subject to a legal hold is never deleted by retention policies, regardless of age. This ensures compliance with litigation hold requirements during malpractice cases, regulatory investigations, or other legal proceedings.

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