The Importance of Keeping Clinical Records in California

Mental health providers in California must retain our patients health service records for a minimum of seven years from the patient's discharge date or seven years after the minor patient reaches the age of majority. Our charts need to be consistently updated so that anybody coming in behind us has a very clear picture of what we did and why we did it. There are legal consequences associated with our clinical documentation. Fraud doesn't have to be intentional for it to be a crime.