I think that you'll find that most medical facilities treat x-ray films
different from medical records.  The x-ray report is kept as part of the
medical record but not the actual film.  In my experience, the retention
period for the film itself is much less than for the medical record.

Gary Vocks
Records Management Officer
Southern Illinois University
School of Medicine
Springfield, Illinois  USA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Amy Conant" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: Cost of Converting Paper Files to CDs


> Forgive me if this has already been exhausted but does this also apply to
> medical records?  Recently I was given my x-ray film to store on my own
> since the facility no longer stores them.  I had the option of doing what
> I wanted with them.  Seems to me a central place for all of these stored
> under proper conditions would be more beneficial to doctors and hospitals.
>
> Amy Conant
> Programmer Analyst
> RM (in training)
> Arapahoe County Colorado
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of Yanaway, Dana E.
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:07 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Cost of Converting Paper Files to CDs
>
>
> The question of who owns the file has been bandied about for some time.
> Historically there was a consensus in the legal community that the
> client file belonged to the client. That consensus seems to be shifting
> now. There is an argument that lawyers were paid to provide advice. the
> client files may represent what was told to the client, but the client
> did not buy the paper, rather they purchased the legal opinion of the
> lawyer.
>
> Therefore the question of ownership of the paper stored in the warehouse
> is not definitively decided.
>
> Of course when it comes to lawyers, just about everything is subject to
> debate. There are good arguments on both sides. I would hesitate to
> categorically state where the ownership of the files resides at this
> point in time though.
>
>
> snip>>
> Interesting thing to consider here is very few of the records being
> stored
> by law firms belong to the firm... the majority of them belong to the
> clients.  The firm may be requested by the clients to retain the records
> for some period of time, and in some cases paid directly for that, but
> typically it's a part of the fees the clients pay to retain the firm.
> <<
>
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