Disposition of Records
A disposition determines the final destination of records once they meet their required retention periods. All records retention schedules approved by the State Records Commission have a specific disposition listed for each record series. The five major types of Disposition are: Destroy, HIPAA Shred, Transfer to Appropriate File, Transfer to the Missouri State Archives (TMSA), or Permanent.
Destroy
For most records series, the disposition action is destruction. The records are kept for an approved length of time, called a retention period. When the retention period has been reached, the records need to be destroyed and recycled.
HIPAA Shred
A more specific type of destruction is a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) certified shred. It is the responsibility of the agency to coordinate any destruction of Protected Health Information (PHI) through a company that meets the HIPAA destruction requirements. Since this type of destruction is more expensive than the usual recycling method, state agencies are required to pay for this service. Agencies are also required to provide a staff member to act as a witness to certify the destruction. A member of the Records Management staff will be on site to assist if the records are stored in the State Record Center.
Transfer to Appropriate File
When a record is created individually, but eventually needs to be added to another record, the disposition action is transfer to appropriate file. When this happens the original record is created and maintained by the agency for the full time allotted then added to the appropriate file and maintained under the new record series requirements.
Transfer to Missouri State Archives (TMSA)
When records are deemed historically pertinent the disposition action is Transfer to the Missouri State Archives. This allows information of historical importance to be preserved and maintained for future generations. Once information is transferred to the Missouri State Archives, it becomes the property of the archives. The Missouri State Archives then provides reference access to the public and the agency.
Permanent
Records that are required by law to be kept permanently, but have no historical value, are given the disposition action of permanent. There must be a citation of a federal law, rule or guideline or a state law or rule stating that the records must be maintained in perpetuity before the State Records Commission will approve a record series as having a permanent disposition.
Before any record can be dispositioned (destroyed or transferred) by the Records Management Division, the agency of record must sign a disposition approval form. Records analysts regularly review an agency's holdings and generate disposition approval forms for the records that have met their retention period. When agencies receive this form they need to promptly review the list to decide if the records listed on the disposition approval form are indeed ready to be dispositioned (destroyed or transferred). An agency director or a Records Management Liaison (RML) will need to sign the first page of the form and initial all subsequent pages.
The State Records Center will not be responsible for destroying records that are delivered after their retention has been met. These should be destroyed by the agency. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your analyst.
If an agency has questions or concerns about anything listed on the disposition approval form, they need to contact the Records Management Division at (573) 751-3319 or by email at recman@sos.mo.gov.