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Practice Closure Letter Template
A practice closure letter tells your patients that the practice is closing or moving, on what date, and how they keep getting care and their records. Copy the blank letter or download it, see a retirement and a relocation example, and check the notice rules for your state or province.
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- Word and text downloads
- Two filled examples
Blank practice closure letter template
FreePRACTICE CLOSURE OR RELOCATION LETTER [Practice name] [Address] [Phone, email, and website] Date: [Date you send the letter] Dear [Patient's name, or Dear patient], I am writing to let you know that [practice name] will [close, or move to a new address] on [last day at the current address]. [One sentence on the reason, if you choose to share it, such as retirement or a move away] UNTIL [LAST DAY] The practice is open as usual until [last day]. Please book by [last day to book] if you need a prescription renewal, a form, or a review before we close. [If you are in the middle of treatment, take a medicine that needs regular monitoring, or are waiting for a result, surgery, or a specialist, we will contact you to make a plan.] AFTER [LAST DAY] [The clinician or practice taking over, and how to book with them; or, if no one is, where to find a clinician taking new patients and any help the practice will give] YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS From [date], your records will be held by [custodian's name, address, and records phone or email]. To get a copy, or to have them sent to a new clinician: [how to ask, any form to sign, and any fee] They will be kept until at least [date or retention period]. PRESCRIPTIONS, RESULTS, AND REFERRALS Prescriptions: [how renewals will be handled, and how long they will last] Results that arrive after [last day]: [who will review them, and how they will contact you] Referrals: [whether pending referrals stand, and where reports will be sent] IF THE PRACTICE IS MOVING [Delete this section if the practice is closing] New address: [address, phone, and first day open] Closed for the move: [dates, or none, and who covers urgent needs on those days] What changes: [parking, transit, hours, accessibility, or clinicians] If the new address doesn't suit you, we can send your records to a clinician of your choice. URGENT CARE IN THE MEANTIME For problems that can't wait: [walk-in clinic, urgent care, or after-hours line] In an emergency, call [emergency number] or go to the nearest emergency department. [Closing line, such as thanks to patients] [Your name, credentials] [License or registration number] [Signature]
Use it for
- Retirement
- Closing for illness or a move away
- Moving to a new address
- Selling a practice
- Sudden closure, sent by a colleague or executor
Two filled examples. Every part, filled in.
Each one follows the template. Use them to judge how much detail every part needs.
Practice closure letter: family physician retiring
Solo family practice; letter to every active patient
The news
I am retiring from family medicine, and the practice will close on Friday, January 29, 2027. No physician is taking it over.
Until the last day
Visits continue as usual until January 29. Book by Friday, January 15, 2027, for renewals, forms, or a review of a long-term condition. At that visit I will renew regular medicines for up to 3 months, where that is safe, to give you time to find a new family doctor.
Patients who need a handover
If you take a blood thinner, insulin, or a controlled medicine, or you are waiting for a result, a surgery date, or a specialist, the clinic will phone you to book a visit and plan who takes over your care.
Finding a new clinician
The front desk has a list of nearby practices taking new patients, and the local find-a-doctor service lists more. Once you register with someone new, they can ask for your records with your signed consent.
Your records
From Monday, February 1, 2027, a family physician colleague at a nearby clinic holds the records as custodian; the letter gives her clinic’s name, address, and records email. Ask there for a copy, or for a transfer to your new clinician. The custodian will tell you any fee before copying, and keeps the records for at least the period the law requires.
Results and urgent care
The same colleague will review any result that arrives after January 29 and contact you if it needs action. Until you have a new clinician, use a walk-in or urgent care clinic for problems that can’t wait, and call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department in an emergency.
How it was sent
Mailed and sent through the patient portal on Monday, October 19, 2026, 102 days before the last day, to every patient seen in the past 2 years. The same notice is on the clinic door, the voicemail greeting, and the website. Signed by the physician, with credentials and license or registration number.
Practice relocation letter: moving across town
Group family practice moving to a new building; letter to every active patient
The news
On Monday, November 30, 2026, the practice moves to a new building on the east side of town, about 15 minutes from the current office. Every clinician and staff member is moving with us, so your clinician stays the same.
The move
The last day at the current office is Wednesday, November 25, 2026. We are closed on Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27, while we move. On those 2 days, the practice phone forwards to the on-call clinician for anything that can’t wait until Monday.
What changes
The address, with free parking and a bus stop at the door. Weekday hours become 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday mornings are added. The new building has step-free access and an elevator. The phone number, email, and patient portal stay the same.
Records, prescriptions, and referrals
Your records move with the practice, so there is nothing you need to do. Renewal requests sent during the move will be handled from November 30. Pharmacies, labs, and the specialists you were referred to have the new address, and pending referrals stand.
If the move doesn’t suit you
If the new location is too far for you, tell the front desk, and we will send a copy of your records to the clinician you choose, with your signed consent.
How it was sent
Mailed and posted on the patient portal on Monday, August 31, 2026, 3 months before the move, with a sign in the waiting room and the new address on the voicemail greeting and the website from the same day. Signed by the practice’s lead physician.
Notice and records rules when a practice closes. Checked October 2026.
Regulators decide how much notice patients get, how you give it, and who keeps the records. These are examples: other states and provinces have their own rules, and your liability insurer or protective association can advise.
Alberta
Physicians must notify CPSA, and each patient seen in the past year who has an expectation of ongoing care, at least 90 days before closing or leaving a practice. The notice can be shorter when a replacement takes over, and goes out as soon as reasonably possible when the cause is beyond the physician’s control, such as sudden illness. A detailed letter, secure email, or phone call gives the last day, how to find a new physician, and how to get outstanding results and copies of records. A move counts only when existing patients couldn’t reasonably be expected to travel to the new location.
British Columbia
Physicians who leave practice, or close or relocate it, must tell patients as soon as possible; where possible, a minimum of 3 months is considered appropriate. They must document reasonable efforts to reach patients in person or by detailed letter, email, or phone, with the departure date, how to get copies of records, and who is taking over or accepting new patients. A handout or sign in the waiting area and the office voicemail must give the same information, and email distribution lists must be concealed. Patients under acute, active treatment must be identified, with documented efforts to place them.
Florida
When a physician ends, sells, or relocates a practice and is no longer available to patients, the rule says patients should be notified by a notice published once a week for 4 consecutive weeks in the newspaper of greatest general circulation in each county where the physician practiced, and in a local paper serving the practice area. It gives the date and an address where records can be obtained, and a copy goes to the Board of Medicine within 1 month. A sign on the office or a letter to patients is allowed but not required. Records are kept for at least 5 years from the last patient contact.
Canada, CMPA advice
College policies may set a minimum notice period; the CMPA gives Ontario, Québec, and Alberta as examples that require at least 90 days, unless the closure is unexpected or beyond the physician’s control. Patients are generally told directly, by letter, email, phone, or at a visit; where that’s impractical, a notice posted in the office and online may be relied on. It advises renewing prescriptions to give patients time to find another physician, arranging care for patients with outstanding results, and telling patients how to access their records.
United States, AMA ethics on notice
AMA Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 1.1.5 says a physician withdrawing from a case must notify the patient, or their authorized decision maker, long enough in advance for the patient to secure another physician, and facilitate transfer of care when appropriate. It gives no number of days.
United States, AMA ethics on records
Opinion 3.3.1 says that when a physician discontinues practice, through departure, sale, retirement, or death, records should be made available to the succeeding physician or other authorized person. Physicians should never refuse to transfer a record at the patient’s request, should charge a reasonable fee, if any, for the transfer, should store records that aren’t transferred appropriately, and should tell patients how to access the stored record and for how long it will be available.
What goes in each part.
The news and the last day
What is changing, and when. Many patients read the first lines and stop there.
- Closing or moving, and the last day at the current address
- The reason in one sentence, if you want to share it
- The date you send the letter
Avoid: Burying the date in the third paragraph. Put it in the first sentence.
Until the last day
What patients can still get from you, and the deadline to ask for it.
- The last day to book a visit
- Renewals, forms, and reviews to do before you close
- That patients in active treatment, on medicines that need monitoring, or waiting on results will be contacted
Avoid: Starting treatment or accepting referrals you can’t finish before you close.
After the last day
Who takes over, or how patients find someone who will.
- The clinician or practice taking over, and how to book
- If no one is: services that list clinicians taking new patients
- Any contingency plan, such as which patients the practice will place and who must find their own care
Avoid: “Please find a new doctor” with no help on where to look.
Medical records
Who holds the records once you close, and how patients get them.
- The custodian’s name, address, and records phone or email
- How to ask for a copy, or a transfer to a new clinician
- Any fee, and how long the records will be kept
Avoid: “Your records will be available” without saying where, or from whom.
Prescriptions, results, and referrals
The work in progress, so nothing falls through the gap after you close.
- How renewals will be handled, and how long they will last
- Who reviews results that arrive after the last day
- Whether pending referrals stand, and where reports will go
Avoid: Results arriving at a closed office with no one to read them.
If the practice is moving
For a relocation: the new address, the first day there, and what changes.
- New address, phone, and the first day open
- Any days closed for the move, and who covers urgent needs
- What changes: parking, transit, hours, accessibility, or clinicians
- How to have records sent elsewhere, if the new site is too far
Avoid: Assuming every patient will follow. Some can’t, and need their records sent on.
Urgent care and signature
Where to go until patients are settled with a new clinician, and who signed.
- Walk-in, urgent care, or after-hours options
- What to do in an emergency
- Your name, credentials, and license or registration number
Avoid: Leaving out the emergency line because it seems obvious.
Common mistakes, and how to avoid them.
Too little time
Many rules set a minimum, but the real test is whether patients can find new care in time. Where clinicians are scarce, give more notice than the minimum.
Nothing on the records
“Where are my records?” is the first question patients ask. Name who holds them, for how long, and how to get a copy or a transfer.
One letter for everyone
Patients in the middle of treatment, on high-risk medicines, or waiting on results need a call or a visit and a documented plan, not only the mailing.
Mail as the only notice
Some patients have moved or don’t open their mail. Some rules require a sign, a voicemail message, or a newspaper notice as well; use them even where they aren’t required.
Every address in the To line
An email to all patients with the addresses visible shows who your patients are. Use a hidden list, and keep the message general, with no clinical details.
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Frequently asked questions.
What should a practice closure letter include?
The last day of practice; who is taking over, or how to find a new clinician; who will hold the records and how to get a copy or a transfer; how prescriptions, pending results, and referrals will be handled; and where to go for urgent care in the meantime. Sign it with your name, credentials, and license or registration number.
How much notice do patients need when a practice closes?
It depends on your regulator. Some set a minimum, such as 90 days, or 3 months where possible; others ask for enough time for patients to find another clinician. Check the rules where you work, and give more time where new clinicians are hard to find.
Do I have to send a letter to every patient?
Usually to every active patient; one rule names those seen in the past year who expect ongoing care. Many rules also ask for other notice, such as a sign in the waiting room, a voicemail message, a notice online, or a newspaper notice, and some ask you to tell labs, hospitals, the clinicians you refer to, and your regulator.
What happens to patient records when a practice closes?
They still have to be kept securely, and patients must still be able to get copies, for the retention period where you work. Arrange a custodian, such as a colleague, the practice taking over, or a records storage service, and tell patients how to reach them. Some regulators also need to know where the records are.
Do I need to send a letter if the practice is only moving?
Yes. Patients need the new address and the first day there, in good time. Some rules treat a move as closing a practice only when patients couldn’t reasonably follow you, or when you are no longer available to them, so check yours, and offer to send records on for patients who can’t make the trip.
What about patients in the middle of treatment?
Don’t rely on the letter alone. Find the patients under active treatment, on medicines that need monitoring or controlled medicines, or waiting on results, surgery, or a referral; call or see them, arrange who takes over their care, and document it.
Show all questions
Who sends the letter if a clinician dies or falls ill suddenly?
A partner, colleague, family member, or the estate’s executor can close the practice and send it. Rules with a fixed notice period may allow notice as soon as reasonably possible instead. A records plan made in advance, naming who takes custody, makes this far easier.
Can I charge patients for copies or a transfer of their records?
Often a reasonable fee is allowed, and in some places it is capped or set by law or by a medical association. Check the rules where you work, and put any fee in the letter so patients aren’t surprised.
Is this practice closure letter template free?
Yes. Copy it, or download it as a Word or text file. No account needed.
Can Vero write a practice closure letter?
Yes. Paste this template into Vero and type the dates and arrangements, and it drafts the letter for you to review and edit. For patients who need a handover, Vero drafts the visit note and the referral letter from their last visit. Export to PDF or Word, print, or email.
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