Call For Comments: APA’s Record Keeping Guidelines
Deadline to Submit Feedback: May 4, 2026

APA is seeking feedback from health service psychologists, students, regulators, patients and the wider community on its expired Record Keeping Guidelines. APA’s Record Keeping Guidelines serves as a guide to practicing psychologists by outlining professional expectations for creating, maintaining, storing, and disposing of clinical records in a manner that supports high-quality care, continuity of services, and compliance with legal and ethical standards. The guidelines address key considerations such as documentation of informed consent, confidentiality and privacy protections, electronic record security, interjurisdictional practice, and record retention requirements. By gathering broad input, APA aims to ensure that the updated guidelines reflect current laws, evolving technologies, and the diverse needs of the communities psychologists serve. The current version of the guidelines expired in 2017.

All submitted feedback will be shared with a work group that is in the process of updating APA guidance regarding Record Keeping. The work group anticipates that the updated guideline will be specific to HSP practice but reviewers can provide feedback about other areas of professional practice for consideration. If a substantial number of comments indicate a need for broader applicability, the work group will carefully consider whether expansion of the guideline or development of a related guidance document is warranted. While the current charge focuses on HSP practice, input from the applied community will help inform future directions and potential additional guidance. While all feedback is welcome, reviewers are particularly encouraged to note content that could or should be specified in the updated and revised Record Keeping Guidelines and is presently missing and any portions of the expired Guidelines that require change. It is hoped that any new guidance regarding record keeping will be relevant for at least the next 10 years so please be forward thinking in your comments.

The current update is being undertaken to ensure the guidelines reflect contemporary legal, regulatory, ethical, and technological developments, align with current professional practice standards, and address emerging issues in electronic recordkeeping, privacy, and interjurisdictional care.

If commenting on an existing component of the APA Record Keeping Guidelines, please reference that section in your comment. All comments received will be shared with a work group that is charged with updating APA's guidance regarding record keeping.

The public comment period will be open until May 4th, 2026.