If you’re closing a practice in Ontario, the CPSO’s Closing a Medical Practice policy asks you to give patients at least 90 days’ notice for a planned closure, tell the College, tell the hospitals and employers where you work, and make sure your patients keep access to their records. The simplest way to meet all of that is to start about six months out. This checklist walks through what to do and when.
About 6 months before closing
- Call us first. Before you transfer any charts to another physician, or tell patients where to send record requests, talk to us. The no-cost arrangement for family physicians and pediatricians depends on Records Management handling all patient record requests, and an early call lets us plan the lowest-cost route for you.
- Decide the closing date and whether a successor will take over all or part of the practice.
- Decide who will look after the records day to day. Many physicians choose a records management provider so they aren’t left managing storage and requests after they retire.
- Take inventory of what you hold: paper charts, EMR data, imaging, old archived files.
At least 90 days before closing
- Notify your patients. Notice goes to patients whose care you are actively managing, and to the substitute decision-maker if a patient lacks capacity. The notice should include the closure date, whether a successor is taking over (and the options for patients if there isn’t one, or if they decline the successor), and how to access their records or have them transferred.
- If a successor is taking over, CPSO allows a shorter notice period based on your professional judgment, as long as patients can still find another provider.
- Notify the people around you: hospitals, facilities and employers where you hold privileges or work, and other providers involved in a patient’s care if you judge it would help. We can notify your referral network of the change on your behalf.
Around the closing date
- Tell the College. Physicians who are resigning membership complete a resignation form. Physicians who keep their membership must report a change of practice address within 30 days. You also need to tell Membership Services how your medical records are being stored, unless the closure is because you’re relocating. Records Management can notify the CPSO of your records’ new location for you.
- Finalize the service agreement for your charts and arrange packing and transport for the paper records.
- Confirm how EMR data will be exported and who holds it afterwards.
Closing week
- Hand the charts over to your records provider and confirm where patients and other physicians should send record requests.
- Update your voicemail, website and signage so people know who to contact.
After you close
- Patients keep the right to their records. CPSO’s records policy expects copies to be provided within 30 days of a request.
- Records are kept for 10 years from the last entry (for children, 10 years after they turn 18).
- When the retention period is over, records should be destroyed securely, and you should keep proof that it happened.
How Records Management Ltd. fits in
We notify your patients by mailed letter and phone outreach, tell the CPSO where your records are now held, can notify your referral network of the change, store and manage your paper and EMR charts on your behalf, handle every record request that follows, and securely destroy records when the retention period ends. Family physicians and pediatricians pay nothing for active patient charts when we handle all patient record requests, which is why we ask you to call before any charts are transferred. Specialists get a custom quote based on specialty and practice size.
Planning a closure? Let’s talk through your timeline.
Related reading
- Medical practice closure services
- What happens to patient records when a doctor retires, sells or closes
Sources and further reading
This article is general information, not legal advice. Always confirm the current requirements in the CPSO policy “Closing a Medical Practice” and with the CMPA if you have questions about your situation.