CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5239
69TH LEGISLATURE
2025 REGULAR SESSION
Passed by the Senate February 12, 2025
  Yeas 49  Nays 0
President of the Senate
Passed by the House April 9, 2025
  Yeas 98  Nays 0
Speaker of the House of Representatives
CERTIFICATE
I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5239 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.
Secretary
Secretary
Approved
FILED
Secretary of State
State of Washington
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5239
Passed Legislature - 2025 Regular Session
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
BySenate Health & Long-Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Slatter, Nobles, and C. Wilson)
READ FIRST TIME 01/27/25.
AN ACT Relating to the retention of hospital medical records; and amending RCW 70.41.190.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 70.41.190 and 1985 c 213 s 27 are each amended to read as follows:
((Unless specified otherwise by the department, a hospital shall retain and preserve all medical records which relate directly to the care and treatment of a patient for a period of no less than ten years following the most recent discharge of the patient; except the records of minors, which shall be retained and preserved for a period of no less than three years following attainment of the age of eighteen years, or ten years following such discharge, whichever is longer.))
(1) A hospital shall retain and preserve all medical records for a minimum period of 26 years from the date the record was created. A hospital may retain medical records on paper, microfilm, electronically, or on other media.
(a) This subsection applies to:
(i) Medical records created prior to the effective date of this section and retained or preserved by the hospital on the effective date of this section; and
(ii) Medical records created on or after the effective date of this section.
(b) This subsection does not apply to medical records no longer retained and preserved by the hospital on the effective date of this section if the hospital complied with this section as it existed prior to the effective date of this section when it destroyed or otherwise disposed of the records.
(c) This subsection does not exempt hospitals from compliance with any other record retention requirements.
(2) All information collected at each unique visit is considered a medical record for the purposes of this section.
(3) If a hospital ceases operations, it shall make immediate arrangements, as approved by the department, for preservation of its records.
(4) The department shall by regulation define the type of records and the information required to be included in the medical records to be retained and preserved under this section; which records may be retained in photographic form pursuant to chapter 5.46 RCW.
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