How to download your lab results from healow (eClinicalWorks)
Thousands of independent practices, community health centers, and urgent care clinics run on eClinicalWorks. Their patient portal is called healow: you sign in on a web page at an address like health.healow.com/your-practice, or in the healow app, where you find your practice by name or by a practice code. If that sounds like your doctor’s portal, this is the guide for you.
Here are four ways to get your results out. eClinicalWorks does not publish its patient-facing help pages openly, so the steps below come from the guides practices give their own patients. Each practice configures its portal, so menu names can differ slightly. If one does not match what you see, look for the nearest equivalent.
1. Download your personal health record
The web portal can save your record as a file. Main Line Health’s guide for its eClinicalWorks practices gives these steps:
- Sign in to your practice’s healow web portal.
- In the left column, select Medical Records, then Personal Health Record.
- The page shows your visits, medications, conditions, results, and more. Along the top
are the download options:
- Download PHR (CCD), a continuity of care document “that can be imported into other health portals”
- Download PHR (Readable), a copy you can read in a browser, as an HTML file
- Print, which also lets you save the page as a PDF
(Main Line Health: exporting from the eClinicalWorks portal)
Best for: most people. It is the portal’s built-in way to get a copy of everything the practice has released to you.
What you get: the CCD is the standard format for moving records between systems, with each lab result as a separate value, unit, and reference range. The readable copy is for you to look at, not for software.
Things to know:
- One practice at a time. The healow app can hold several practices, but each practice’s record downloads separately.
- Use the web portal. The download options are on the web page. The app has its own route, below.
HealthViewer reads CCD files, so you can upload the download as it is.
2. Save a PDF of your results from the healow app
The healow app shows results under My Records. Practices’ guides describe saving them as a PDF from there:
- Open the healow app and sign in.
- Select My Records.
- Choose a start and end date to show results from that period.
- Select Download PDF at the bottom of the screen, then save or email the file.
(Ideal Option: patient portal help)
Best for: a few results you want to send somewhere, or keeping a readable copy on your phone.
Things to know: a PDF is a picture of your results, so anything that wants to chart them has to read the numbers back off the page. For a full history, the CCD from option 1 is easier to work with. Our free lab PDF to spreadsheet tool can try to read the PDF if that is all you have.
3. Connect an app to your healow account
eClinicalWorks supports the SMART on FHIR standard that lets you authorize an app to read your records. You sign in with your healow portal account, approve the app, and it fetches your results as data.
Best for: anyone who wants an ongoing copy that stays up to date without repeat downloads.
Things to know: eClinicalWorks requires each practice to turn patient apps on. If yours has not, the connection fails, and the fix is a request to the office. You also need an active healow portal account.
HealthViewer’s health system connection works with eClinicalWorks. If your practice has not enabled it, HealthViewer gives you a request to send to the office, with setup steps for their administrator.
4. Get the report from the lab, or request your records
Many practices send bloodwork to Quest or Labcorp, and the lab keeps its own report. See how to download your lab results from Quest and from Labcorp. The lab’s copy covers every doctor who sent you there.
For the complete record, ask the practice. The portal belongs to the practice, not to eClinicalWorks, so the request goes to the office. Under 45 CFR 164.524, providers must respond within 30 calendar days, with one 30-day extension if they tell you in writing why, and can charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee. (HHS guidance on the right of access) How to get all of your medical records covers what to ask for.
Which one should you use?
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Get a portable copy of everything, once | Download PHR (CCD) on the web portal |
| Save or send a few results from your phone | Download PDF in the healow app |
| Keep an ongoing, chartable copy | An app connection, once the practice enables it |
| Get the lab’s own report, or the complete record | The lab’s portal, or a records request |
For most people the answer is the CCD download, repeated now and then to pick up new results.
Things that can be missing
- Results your practice has not released. Practices decide what appears in the portal and when. If a result is missing, ask the office.
- Other practices. Each practice’s download holds only its own records, even if your healow app shows several.
- Outside results. Results from a hospital or specialist on another system are in that system’s portal. How to download your lab results from any patient portal has a guide for each.
After you download
- Duplicates. A test can show up in the practice’s record and in the lab’s own report. Keep one.
- Dates. The CCD usually records when your sample was collected, while a PDF may show the report date. The same result can appear a day or two apart.
- Reference ranges. Each lab sets its own. Keep the range that came with each result.
Once the results are in one place, read them as a history rather than one report at a time. How to track your lab results over time walks through that. If you want a private place for all of it, HealthViewer is a lab results tracker that stores everything in an encrypted file on your own computer.
eClinicalWorks and healow are trademarks of eClinicalWorks, LLC. HealthViewer is not affiliated with or endorsed by eClinicalWorks. Menu names and available features vary by practice. This post is general information, not legal advice.