Managing the life cycle of records is the responsibility of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services (DMH/DD/SAS), local management entities (LME) and provider agency staff.

 

DMH/DD/SAS, LMEs and providers are required to demonstrate compliance to the provisions of Chapter 121 Section 5 and Chapter 132 of the General Statutes that govern the retention and disposition of public records.

 

Complying with record retention and record management is the responsibility of both administrators and providers.

Special reminders about record retention and disposition:

• The schedules only apply to original documents, not copies.
• The schedules apply to all aspects of conducting state business, administrative, financial and management records, not just to consumer records.
• When a document falls under two different retention schedules, the stricter schedule applies.
• The funding source often determines how long a record must be retained.
• Records associated with federally funded grant programs shall be retained for at least 10 years and for three years after the program has ended, provided the organization had a clean audit. DMA-PI and the Medicaid Investigations Unit can go back up to 10 years to investigate or to request recoupment of funds.

Contact

If there are records management or records retention questions, please contact cynthia.coe@dhhs.nc.gov.

More Information