How to download your lab results from the NextGen Patient Portal
NextGen Healthcare’s record systems run many specialty practices and medical groups, and their patients use the NextGen Patient Portal on the web or in the NextGen Patient Portal app. Older accounts may remember it as NextMD, the portal NextGen replaced; some practices also use NextGen Office, a separate product for smaller offices with its own portal. If your practice’s portal mentions NextGen, this is the guide for you.
Menu names below follow NextGen’s own documentation as of November 2026. Each practice chooses which features to turn on, so you may not see every option.
1. Download your health record
The portal’s Health Record page is where your records live. NextGen’s documentation says patients can download records from it, such as office visit notes and attachments the practice has sent. (NextGen: access personal health records)
For lab results, the file you want is the continuity of care document (CCD), the standard format for moving records between systems. Where a practice has turned on the feature NextGen calls On Demand Health Record, you request a current one from the Health Record page by selecting Request updated records, and it appears there when ready. (NextGen: request patient health records) NextGen’s release notes say the CCD can be downloaded as an XML file from the mobile website too. (NextGen: Patient Portal 2.1.1 release update)
Best for: most people.
Things to know:
- If you don’t see Request updated records, your practice has not turned the feature on. Look for health summaries or visit records already on the page, or ask the office to send one to your portal.
- One practice at a time. Each practice’s portal holds its own records.
HealthViewer reads CCD files, so you can upload the XML as it is.
2. Get the report from the lab
Practices send most bloodwork to an outside lab, often Quest or Labcorp, and the lab keeps its own report of every test it ran for you. See how to download your lab results from Quest and from Labcorp.
Best for: a long history, and a ready-made PDF of each report.
3. Connect an app to your NextGen account
NextGen’s certified record systems support the SMART on FHIR standard that lets you authorize a personal health record app to read your results. Whether you can connect a particular app depends on the app supporting NextGen and on your practice’s setup.
Best for: an ongoing copy that stays up to date.
HealthViewer does not connect to NextGen portals yet. Use the CCD download or the lab’s PDFs instead. If you want a direct connection, the free, open-source Mere Medical lists NextGen among its portals.
4. Request a copy of your records
For the complete record, ask the practice. 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) Ask for the CCD, or for your lab results as PDFs. 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 your record | The CCD from the Health Record page |
| Get each lab report as the lab issued it | The lab’s portal |
| Keep an ongoing copy without repeat downloads | An app that supports NextGen |
| Get the complete official record | A records request |
Things that can be missing
- Results the practice has not released. NextGen’s documentation describes patients seeing the results their provider has made available to them. If one is missing, ask the office.
- Features your practice turned off. NextGen lets each practice configure what the Health Record page offers.
- Other practices and hospitals. Results ordered elsewhere are in that organization’s portal. How to download your lab results from any patient portal has a guide for each.
After you download
- Duplicates. A test can appear in the practice’s CCD and in the lab’s own report. Keep one.
- Dates. The CCD usually records when your sample was collected, while a lab PDF may show the report date as well.
- 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. 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.
NextGen and NextMD are trademarks of NextGen Healthcare, Inc. HealthViewer is not affiliated with or endorsed by NextGen Healthcare. Menu names and available features vary by practice. This post is general information, not legal advice.