How to download your lab results from the VA
If you get care at a VA medical center or clinic, your lab results are in My HealtheVet, which now lives on VA.gov. VA has moved its patient portal there from the old myhealth.va.gov site, and in 2026 it retired My VA Health, the separate portal that some facilities used. Veterans at those facilities now use My HealtheVet on VA.gov too. (VA: My HealtheVet on VA.gov)
VA says you can “find, review, print, and download each part of your VA medical records online—including your lab and test results.” (VA: review medical records online) Here are four ways to do it.
Menu names below follow VA.gov as of October 2026. VA is still changing this tool, so if a name does not match what you see, look for the nearest equivalent.
1. Download individual lab results
Sign in to VA.gov with a verified Login.gov or ID.me account, open Medical records, and choose Lab and test results. That section covers blood tests, urine tests, biopsies, and endoscopies. X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans are in a separate Medical imaging results section.
Open a result and use the Print or download menu. It offers three choices: print, Download PDF, or Download a text file (.txt). VA notes the text file may work better with a screen reader.
Best for: one result you need to send somewhere, or checking a new result.
Things to know:
- Results can appear before your doctor reviews them. VA’s results pages say you may see results before your care team does.
- It is one result at a time. For a full history, the Blue Button report is faster.
2. Download your VA Blue Button report
The Blue Button report gathers your records into one file. In Medical records, go to Download your medical records reports and follow VA’s three steps: (VA: about reviewing medical records online)
- Select date range: the last 3, 6, or 12 months, all time, or a custom range.
- Select types of records to include. Check Lab and test results, or select all VA records.
- Select file type: PDF or Text file. Then select Download report.
Best for: a readable copy of your whole VA history at once.
Things to know:
- Some facilities are left out. VA says the Blue Button report does not include records from some facilities, and lists them on the download page. Most are facilities that have moved to VA’s new electronic health record. For those, VA says to download the Continuity of Care Document instead.
- Care summaries and notes in the report start in 2013.
- It is a document, not data. A PDF or text report is easy to read, but anything that wants to chart your results has to read the numbers back out of it.
3. Download your Continuity of Care Document (CCD)
The same page has a section called Continuity of Care Document for non-VA providers. VA describes the CCD as “a summary of your VA medical records that you can share with non-VA providers in your community,” including “recent lab results.” It used to be called your VA Health Summary.
The CCD comes as XML, the standard format for moving records between health systems. VA may also offer PDF and HTML versions. If you get care at facilities on both the old and new VA systems, VA offers a separate CCD for each group.
Best for: getting your results as data, and getting records from facilities that the Blue Button report leaves out.
Things to know: there is no date range to choose, and VA says it includes recent lab results, not your whole history. Use the Blue Button report or a records request for older years.
HealthViewer reads CCD files and splits them into individual results with units and reference ranges. Upload the XML version. HealthViewer has no dedicated reader for VA’s PDF and text reports.
4. Request a copy of your records
For a complete or certified copy, ask your VA facility’s release of information office. VA gives two ways to do it: (VA: get your records from your facility)
- Send a secure message on VA.gov to a care team with “Release of Information” in its name. VA says it acknowledges the message within 3 business days.
- Send VA Form 10-5345a, “Individuals’ Request for a Copy of Their Own Health Information,” by mail or fax, or take it in person with a photo ID. The form has a box for lab results, where you can name specific tests and a date range.
VA says requests may take up to 30 calendar days for records stored electronically, and up to 60 days for paper records, which usually means records from before 1998.
Best for: older records, records the online tool does not show, and certified copies for a claim or a new doctor.
Which one should you use?
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Save or send one result | A single result download |
| Get a readable copy of your full VA history | The Blue Button report |
| Get your results as data, or records the Blue Button report misses | The CCD |
| Get older or certified records | A records request |
For most veterans, download the Blue Button report once for the full history, and the CCD for anything it lists as missing.
Connecting an app
VA lets you connect approved apps to your VA health records. When an app asks, you sign in with your Login.gov or ID.me account and allow access. You can disconnect an app under Profile, then Connected apps. (VA: connected apps FAQs) VA lists the apps it has approved, including Apple Health, on its apps directory. HealthViewer is not one of them, so to bring VA results into HealthViewer, use the CCD.
Things that can be missing
- Care outside the VA. Community care and other non-VA providers keep their own records. Get those results from that provider’s portal, or from the lab. See how to download your lab results from MyChart, Quest, and Labcorp.
- Records from more than one system. VA says that while it moves facilities to its new record, you may need different reports for different dates and facilities, and that it is working to bring them together.
After you download
A few checks save confusion later:
- Duplicates. The same result can be in the Blue Button report, the CCD, and a single download. Keep one.
- Dates. Use the date the sample was collected. That is when the value was true.
- Reference ranges. Each lab sets its own. If you also have results from non-VA labs, keep the range that came with each result.
Once the 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, and Where should your lab results live? compares the places you can keep them. 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.
My HealtheVet and Blue Button are trademarks of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. HealthViewer is not affiliated with or endorsed by the VA. Menu names and available features can change. This post is general information, not legal advice.