Patient RecordS

Presently, massage therapists are not required to maintain medical records detailing the treatment or course of treatment for their patients.  However, one should not overlook the obvious advantages of maintaining a record of a patient’s visit.

If a massage therapist does maintain records, he or she should be forewarned that a patient’s access to medical records is protected by law. The records that a massage therapist keeps may not remain the sole property of the practitioner. Moreover, massage therapists do not qualify for the patient/physician privilege, so a patient’s records may be subject to discovery in criminal and legal actions and may be admissible as evidence at a trial. This should not be considered a final opinion on the matter of medical records, but rather a general overview of the area.

In the case of a practitioner’s business records, federal income tax limits for audits are three (3) years in most cases, six (6) years for others, and no limit for others (e.g. fraud). While this book cannot attempt to deal with federal law, I.R.S. limitation periods should be kept in mind when records might substantiate a health care practitioner’s statement of his income.

Patient Records