Patricia,
Far from being "off-topic", I think this is a significant issue. I find that for many docs who are considering an EMR, the issue of what to do with paper charts becomes a major stumbling point; in my opinion, it assumes far more importance than it should.
You are well past that stage, but the issue remains. I advocate scanning and shredding in most cases. The costs of storage are significant and sometimes hard to quantify. As you point out, once the items are stored, for all intents and purposes they are essentially inaccessible, only to be retrieved in the most extreme cases.
The cost of scanning by a company can be significant as well. A cost effective alternative we used was to hire a high school student and buy a scanner. The job is fairly mind-numbing, but to a student (or your child) who is looking for work over the summer or on weekends and after school, it would likely be popular. I would generally do a "batch" scan; don't spend a lot of time and energy dividing the charts into a lot of sections. If there are significant portions of many charts that need not be saved, show the scanning person what can be trashed, and have them scan the rest. Also have them get rid of charts on patients that have not been seen for 7 or 10 years, or whatever you feel safe with.
When the scanning is done:
no more costs, no more charts lying around, no more "do we want to send someone over and try to dig it out of storage". Instead, you have the psychological satisfaction of getting rid of all of the old charts, and you have a hard drive that sits on a desk or in a drawer so that any chart you want to browse is quickly accessible.
