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Data Retention Policy

Data Retention Policy

This document explains how long we retain your information and how we dispose of it when it's no longer needed.

Overview

We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide you with healthcare services, comply with legal requirements, and protect your rights. This policy explains:

Retention Periods

Medical Records

Retention Period: 7 years from the date of your last service

What This Includes:

Why We Retain This: HIPAA requires us to retain medical records for a minimum of 6 years. Many state laws require 7 years. We retain your records for 7 years to comply with the most stringent requirements and to ensure continuity of care.

Audit Logs

Retention Period: 6 years minimum

What This Includes:

Why We Retain This: HIPAA requires us to retain audit logs for 6 years to support compliance audits and security investigations.

Financial Records

Retention Period: 7 years

What This Includes:

Why We Retain This: IRS and accounting regulations require us to retain financial records for 7 years for tax and audit purposes.

Account Information

Retention Period: While your account is active, plus 2 years after account closure

What This Includes:

Why We Retain This: We retain this information for customer service purposes and to comply with legal requirements.

Consent Records

Retention Period: 7 years from the consent date, or until you withdraw your consent

What This Includes:

Why We Retain This: We retain consent records to demonstrate compliance with your consent choices and to support legal requirements.

Data Disposal

When Information is Deleted

When information reaches the end of its retention period, we will:

  1. Identify the information eligible for disposal
  2. Verify that the retention period has expired
  3. Securely delete the information from our active systems
  4. Document the disposal in our records

How Information is Deleted

We use secure deletion methods to ensure your information cannot be recovered:

All deletion activities are logged and monitored to ensure proper disposal.

Anonymization

In some cases, we may anonymize information instead of deleting it. Anonymized information:

Your Rights

Right to Request Deletion

You have the right to request deletion of your information, subject to legal requirements. We may not be able to delete information if:

Right to Access

You can request a copy of your information at any time. We will provide it to you in a format you can use.

Right to Request Restrictions

You can request restrictions on how we retain or use your information, though we may not be able to accommodate all requests due to legal requirements.

Legal Holds

Sometimes, we may be required to retain information longer than our standard retention period due to:

When information is subject to a legal hold, we will retain it until the legal hold is released, even if it exceeds our standard retention period.

Backup Retention

We maintain backups of our systems to protect against data loss. Backups are retained according to the following schedule:

Backups containing your information are encrypted and securely stored. When backups are deleted, your information is permanently removed.

Exceptions

Extended Retention

We may retain information longer than the standard retention period if:

Early Deletion

We may delete information earlier than the standard retention period if:

Compliance

This policy is designed to comply with:

Questions About Data Retention

If you have questions about:

Please contact us:

Email: maylis@doctoronthewatch.com Phone: +1 (917) 526-9746

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements or our practices. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the updated policy on our website.

Last Updated

12/15/2025

Next Review Date

12/15/2026