How to download your lab results from MyChart

MyChart is where many people first see their lab results. It is also a hard place to keep them. Each health system runs its own MyChart, results are shown one test at a time, and when you change doctors or insurers the old account can quietly become one more login you no longer use.

Getting your results out gives you a copy that stays yours, and lets you put results from several health systems side by side. MyChart offers four ways to do it. They differ a lot in effort and in what you end up with.

Menu names below follow Epic’s standard wording. Each health system can rename or hide items, so if you cannot find one, try the search box in the MyChart menu.

1. Connect an app to your MyChart account

Epic lets patients authorize an app to read their records directly, using a standard called SMART on FHIR. You sign in to MyChart in your browser, approve the app, and it fetches your lab results as structured data: test name, value, unit, reference range, and date for every result.

Best for: most people, and anyone who wants to keep their copy up to date.

What you get: every lab result your health system makes available through its patient data connection, already separated into individual values. Nothing to retype or parse.

Things to know:

• You approve the connection in MyChart, and you can revoke it there at any time.
• Availability varies. A few health systems do not offer patient app connections, and some older results may not come through.
• You repeat the connection for each health system you use.

HealthViewer’s health system connection works this way. It shows you everything it fetched before saving, and it marks results you already have so a second import does not create duplicates.

2. Download your health summary as a ZIP file

MyChart can package your record as a download. Look for Sharing Hub or Document Center in the menu, then an option such as Download My Record or Download health and visit summary. You choose a single visit, a date range, or all visits, and MyChart prepares a ZIP file. Sometimes this takes a few minutes and you get a notification when it is ready.

Inside the ZIP are two versions of the same information. One is meant for people to read. The other is a set of XML files in a standard format called C-CDA, meant for software to read.

Best for: getting a portable copy of everything at once, or when an app connection is not available.

Things to know:

• The files are standardized, so most health apps can read them, but the human-readable version is not built for tracking values over time.
• Lab results appear inside visit and summary documents, so a long history can span many files.

HealthViewer accepts the ZIP as is. There is no need to unzip it or hunt for the right XML file. It reads up to 25 documents per ZIP, so for a long history, download a few date ranges instead of all visits at once.

3. Save individual results as PDFs

For a handful of results, you can save them one at a time. Open Test Results, select a result, and use the print option to print it or save it as a PDF.

Epic’s help pages describe a second route that covers more history for a single test: open a result, select Compare result trends, and use the Download option in the Download results section at the bottom of the page. (MyChart help: downloading results)

Best for: a single result you need to send somewhere, or a gap the other methods missed.

Things to know: it is slow for a full history, since each test is saved separately. A PDF is also a picture of a result, so anything that wants to chart it has to read the numbers back out of the page.

HealthViewer reads MyChart PDF exports and shows every value it extracted for you to check before saving.

4. Request a formal copy of your record

The Sharing Hub in many MyChart accounts also has an option to request a formal copy of your health record. This goes to the health system’s medical records department, which prepares it and notifies you when it is ready to download. MyChart describes the result as a PDF on your organization’s letterhead. (MyChart: sharing your medical record)

Best for: a complete, official record, including notes and documents that do not appear in the patient portal, or records you need to send to a lawyer, insurer, or employer.

Things to know: this is the slowest option, and the result is a long document rather than data. You have a legal right to it under 45 CFR 164.524. Providers must respond within 30 calendar days, with one 30-day extension allowed if they tell you in writing why. They can charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies. (HHS guidance on the right of access)

Which one should you use?

Most people get the most from an app connection, with the ZIP as a backup. If you have accounts at several health systems, do this for each one. That is the only way to see all of your results together, since no single MyChart account shows another system’s labs unless those records were pulled in.

After you download

A few checks save confusion later:

• Dates. A PDF may show the date a report was issued, while the structured data uses the date your blood was drawn. The same result can appear a day or two apart in two sources.
• Units. Different labs can report the same test in different units, such as glucose in mg/dL at one lab and mmol/L at another. Compare like with like.
• Reference ranges. Each lab sets its own. Keep the range that came with each result rather than applying one lab’s range to every value.

Once your results are in one place, the next step is reading 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 to keep them, HealthViewer is a lab results tracker that stores everything in an encrypted file on your own computer.

MyChart is a trademark of Epic Systems Corporation. HealthViewer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Epic. Menu names and available features vary by health system.