When a practitioner retires, permanently exits practice, or dies, patient health records remain a legal responsibility.
The Legacy Plan makes PracMinders your lawful record custodian — managing secure transfer, retention, authorised access, and eventual destruction in line with Australian privacy and health records law.
Whether you are preparing for retirement, finalising an estate, or managing the records of a practitioner who has died, the Legacy Plan ensures your obligations are met — without leaving them to family members or colleagues who are not authorised to carry them.
Patient health record retention is not optional.
Under Australian law, patient health records must be retained for a minimum of seven years from the date of last entry for adult patients — and longer for patients who were minors when treated. State and territory legislation may impose additional requirements.
These obligations do not end when a practice closes. When custodianship is not planned for, responsibility often falls to families or executors who may have no lawful or practical way to store, access, or release records appropriately.
The Legacy Plan is a separate service from the Core and Core Plus contingency plans. It must be formally entered into by whoever holds legal responsibility for the patient health records — whether that is the practitioner, an estate executor, a legal representative, or another legally authorised party.
Retiring or closing a practice does not end your obligation to store patient health records securely. Under Australian law, records must be retained for a minimum of seven years from the date of last entry for adult patients — and until age 25 for patients treated as minors. Safe, lawful medical record storage requires more than finding somewhere to put the files. It requires custodianship: verified authority, controlled access, retention management, and eventual lawful destruction.
The Legacy Plan provides lawful, professional custodianship of patient health records after practice closure. We manage secure transfer, retention, authorised access, and lawful destruction — so your professional obligations continue to be met.
Base pricing applies to text-heavy records. Image-heavy, multimedia, unusually large, or technically complex record sets may require additional storage or handling fees depending on file size and export format.
Unlike general document storage, medical record storage for a closed or retired practice involves ongoing legal obligations — including authorised access management, statutory retention periods, and compliant destruction processes. The Legacy Plan is built specifically for this.
The Legacy Plan is suitable for AHPRA-registered practitioners and other health and wellbeing practitioners who hold ongoing responsibility for patient health records in private practice.
For enquiries about multi-practitioner practices or clinic closures, contact PracMinders directly to discuss your specific circumstances.
If you’re not yet ready to enter into a Legacy Plan but want to make sure the groundwork is in place if something happens to you unexpectedly, the Legacy Readiness Plan may be the right starting point.
Legacy Readiness documents the administrative information needed to set up a Legacy Plan — so that if you die or become permanently incapacitated before formally entering into one, your loved ones or legal representatives have everything they need to do so without delay.
Custodianship is an ongoing administrative responsibility — not simply a one-time transfer of records. Here is how it works.
01 Initiation
The practitioner, executor, or authorised representative contacts PracMinders to request custodianship under the Legacy Plan.
02 Verification
We confirm legal authority, required documentation, and PMS access arrangements. Custodianship cannot commence until authority is verified and payment is received.
03 Secure transfer
Patient health records are exported from your PMS, encrypted, and transferred to our Australian-based secure storage platform.
04 Storage and management
Records are retained for the legally required period. Access is granted only to authorised parties upon verified request, where permitted by law — including patients, legal representatives, insurers, and parties presenting subpoenas.
05 Retention and destruction
Once statutory retention periods expire, records are securely destroyed in line with Australian law. Documentation of destruction is retained for compliance and audit purposes.
Families are often left with responsibility for patient health records following a practitioner’s death or permanent incapacitation — despite having no authority, access, or practical means to manage them lawfully.
Patient health records are held within regulated clinical systems and subject to strict access, audit, and retention requirements. Managing them correctly requires professional knowledge and authorised systems.
Well-intentioned actions — opening, forwarding, copying, or deleting records — can breach the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and applicable state and territory health records legislation, even when done with the best of intentions.
Managing sensitive patient health records during grief or crisis places an unfair burden on families at an already difficult time.
It’s common to assume a trusted colleague could manage your patient health records if something happened to you.
In practice, these arrangements are not always as straightforward as they seem.
Health information is regulated under the Australian Privacy Principles and, in some states, specific health records legislation. Health information can generally only be held for the purpose for which it was collected — primarily, providing a health service. Any transfer or handling of records beyond that purpose must have a clear legal basis, be consistent with what patients would reasonably expect, and be properly documented.
A colleague may be able to assist in certain circumstances — for example, where they are involved in your patients’ care, or where the arrangement is properly structured and compliant with privacy obligations. Without clear authority and documentation, however, responsibility can shift onto someone who may not be adequately authorised, insured, or prepared to manage the legal and regulatory obligations involved.
In addition to privacy and legal considerations, practitioners considering such arrangements should satisfy themselves that any professional indemnity, privacy, and business insurance requirements would also be met.
PracMinders is appointed as a lawful record custodian — so colleagues are not placed in roles they are neither authorised nor insured to perform.
The Legacy Plan is built to uphold your legal and professional obligations long after you stop practising.
Your professional and legal obligations do not end when your practice does. The Legacy Plan ensures they continue to be met.
Practitioners can retire or exit practice knowing their patient health records are held lawfully and their obligations are being met.
Patients retain appropriate access to their health information when needed.
Families and executors are spared the legal and administrative burden of managing sensitive records during an already difficult time.
Secure, professional custodianship protects not just compliance — but your professional reputation and the trust your patients placed in you.
The Legacy Plan provides secure, compliant patient health record custodianship after practice closure — so you can exit practice knowing your obligations are covered.
