How to Access Your Medical History
Every medical facility that has ever treated you, has a medical record of that treatment. Compile all those medical records into a single file or document and you have a medical history. Unless a person has only been treated in a single medical facility since birth, this will require contacting and retrieving medical records from multiple sources.
Instructions
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Get Ready
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1
Prepare a list of all medical facilities that have provided you with treatment. Check to see if any of these practices have been sold or merged with other practices. The contact information may have changed from the time the services were provided. A complete list of medical facilities should include clinics, hospitals, chiropractors, pharmacies, dentists and therapists, among others.
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2
Contact every medical facility where you've been treated and request your medical records. According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, patients are allowed copies of their records, although the physical record is the property of the clinic. The medical facility is allowed to charge a reasonable fee for furnishing the copy.
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Organize your individual medical records into a medical history. Chronological order is common, starting with birth and proceeding to your most current medical treatments.
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Tips & Warnings
Request medical records as soon as possible after treatment. This keeps the history as current as possible and prevents forgetting about a treatment.
Paper records can be bulking and inconvenient. Entering the information from the medical facilities into a single computerized database provides a more portable history. Commercial computer software and even Internet storage options exist. Medical flash drives, accessible by ambulance crews, emergency room staff and other medical professionals also are currently being marketed.
Pass your medical history on to descendants who may benefit from this knowledge.
Maintain backup copies of your medical history. A paper medical history could be destroyed in a fire or flood. Store the backup copy in a secure location away from the primary storage location. Backups of electronic medical histories should be stored on site and off site to prevent loss of data from electronic problems as well as physical disasters.
If the medical history is stored on the Internet make sure the privacy policies of the provider protect your rights.
