Purpose

This policy establishes guidelines for the retention and destruction of documents to ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, and operational requirements, and to protect the integrity and confidentiality of records.

Scope

This policy applies to all records, regardless of format (paper or electronic), created or received in the course of My Green Doctor Foundation’s operations.

Responsibilities

• All staff, volunteers, board members, and independent contractors are responsible for maintaining, storing, and destroying documents in accordance with this policy.

• The Executive Director (E.D.) oversees implementation and compliance.

General Guidelines

• Retain documents for the minimum periods specified in the retention schedule below or as required by law.

• Do not destroy any document that is relevant to ongoing or anticipated litigation, government investigation, or audit.

• Electronic documents must be retained and destroyed according to the same standards as paper documents.

• My Green Doctor will not request, collect, or retain patient-identifying information as defined, for example, in the United States by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and in the European Union by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). An exception where patient-identifying information might be collected might be in the setting of clinical research where the procedures for handling data would be specified in the research protocol approved by an Institutional Review Board (in the U.S.) or equivalent ethical review panel in other countries.