Your Rights and Your Medical Records 

Mount Auburn Hospital retains medical records for a minimum of 20 years from the date you last received care.

If we destroy your records after that time, they are disposed of in a secure manner. This protects your information from unauthorized disclosure.

Secondary records are normally held in individual departments and destroyed after five years. These records may include: 

• Electrocardiogram tracings.
• Electroencephalographs.
• Electronic fetal monitoring strips.
• Other tracings generated to report test results.
• Radiology films and scans.
• Raw psychological testing data.

Written reports of these testing materials remain in the medical record. Individual departments may keep secondary records for a longer time.  

Your Rights and Your Access to Medicare  

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) works to increase the use of appropriate diagnostic imaging for Medicare patients. At Mount Auburn Hospital, we use PAMA’s appropriate use criteria before ordering tests such as: 

• Computed tomography (CT)
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Nuclear medicine
• Positron emission tomography (PET)

Learn more about PAMA and the AUC program from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

Your Patient Responsibilities    

As a patient of Mount Auburn Hospital, you are expected to and have the responsibility to: 

1. Provide complete and accurate information about your medical history.
2. Tell a doctor or nurse when you feel better or worse, especially if there is a sudden change in how you feel.
3. Work collaboratively with your medical team.
4. Speak up if you have a concern about your safety.
5. Be considerate of other patients. This includes helping to control noise.
6. Follow hospital rules designed to keep you, other patients, and visitors safe and comfortable.
7. Provide accurate information about your insurance or lack of insurance.
8. Pay your bill to the extent that you can.