Bring your records together: VA, patient portals and paper
Most families' medical history is scattered. A veteran may see doctors at the VA and at a private practice. A parent may have records at two hospital systems, a pharmacy and a specialist. None of these systems talk to each other, and no single doctor sees the whole picture.
You can. Every provider has to let you see and download your own records. This guide shows how to collect them and keep them in one private place with Historia Medica.
Records from the VA
If you're enrolled in VA health care, sign in at VA.gov/my-health with Login.gov or ID.me. From there you can view, print and download your VA records: lab and test results, vaccines, allergies, medications, and care summaries and notes.
- Download what you need as files and save them on your Mac, for example in a "VA records" folder.
- For older records or anything not available online, the VA's Release of Information office at the facility where you were treated can provide copies (VA Form 10-5345a).
If you help a parent who is a veteran, sit with them for the sign-in. VA.gov also explains how to set up access for a caregiver.
Records from patient portals
Hospitals and practices usually have a patient portal (MyChart is a common one). Look for Medical records, Test results, Visit summaries or a Download or Share option. Most portals let you:
- download or print visit summaries and lab results as PDFs,
- download a health summary listing medications, allergies, conditions and immunizations.
If you can't find something, ask the practice's front desk or records office. In the US you have the right to get copies of your records.
Paper records
Scan them with your iPhone: open the Notes or Files app and choose Scan Documents. Save the scans as PDFs and AirDrop or sync them to your Mac.
Put it together in Historia Medica
- Add each person you look after (and pets, if you like).
- Enter the essentials from those downloads: medications, allergies, conditions and doctors. It takes 30–60 minutes per person and gives you a summary you can print for any appointment. See Getting started.
- Store the downloads in Media → Add files, or attach a report to its test, X-ray or visit. Historia Medica keeps a copy with the records.
- Note where each record came from. In Tests, the Lab or clinic field shows which system a result came from; in Visits, choose the physician and add the facility in the notes.
Now the VA results, the private doctor's notes and the hospital discharge letter sit side by side, for the person and for you.
Coming soon: reading text from your PDFs
The next version adds text recognition for scanned and downloaded documents, so their contents can be searched and reused instead of retyped. Like everything else in Historia Medica, it runs entirely on your Mac. Vote for it here.
Your records stay yours
Historia Medica has no account and no cloud. What you download from the VA or a portal goes into a file on your own Mac and nowhere else. Nobody else can see it, including us.