Julie, just to add to your comments, sometimes retentions are lengthened
by the failure of associated business processes to capture a condition
which allows the retention to be implemented. This is, for example, the
case with what I often call "actuarial retentions". An example of this
would be "Retain 7 years after date of death, or 70 years if date of
death is unknown." You'll find this type of retention related to long
term care records, for example, with developmental disabilities cases,
or TB cases. Because we can't be certain of when the date of death is,
and as there is no mechanism in place to reliably notify us of that (the
patient, for example, may move out of our jurisdiction), the default
becomes 70 years. 

While not as dramatic, many daily business processes - contracts,
financial records, grant records - have similar conditions and defaults.
An excellent - and often overlooked - argument for business process
review when converting systems.

Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Records Management Program
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Gresham, OR 97233
phone: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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