Medicare and your lab results: what Blue Button has, and where the numbers are
If you are on Medicare, Medicare.gov will let you download a record of your claims, and you can connect apps to the same data through a service Medicare calls Blue Button. It is easy to assume that includes your lab results. It doesn’t. What it does include is the next best thing: a list of every lab test Medicare paid for, when, and who ran it. That list is a map to your results.
This guide covers what Medicare’s data holds, how to get it, and how to use it to track down the actual numbers.
What Medicare has, and what it doesn’t
Medicare pays claims. A claim says that a provider performed a service on a date and billed Medicare for it. For a blood test, that means the date, the lab or clinic that billed, and a procedure code for the test. It does not include the value, the units, or the reference range: those live with the lab and the doctor who ordered the test.
CMS describes the data as your Part A, Part B, and Part D claims. Part A covers hospital stays, skilled nursing, and hospice; Part B covers doctors’ services, outpatient care, and preventive services, which is where most lab tests are billed; Part D covers prescription drugs. For apps, the data goes back to 2014. (CMS: Blue Button data)
If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, Medicare’s own data includes only your drug claims. (Medicare.gov: share your Medicare claims) Your plan holds the rest. Medicare Advantage plans have to offer a patient access API that apps can connect to, with your claims and the clinical data the plan keeps, so ask your plan which apps work with it, or what it offers on its own member site.
1. Download your claims from Medicare.gov
You need a Medicare.gov account. Medicare says that once you have one, you can download your claims data to your computer or phone to print it or share it with someone you trust. CMS’s own materials have called the option Download my claims & personal data, under your name once you sign in; the site’s wording changes, so look for a download option in your account. (Medicare.gov: share your Medicare claims)
What you get: a file listing your claims, which you can read or print. Treat it like a bank statement: it holds your diagnoses and providers as well as dates.
2. Connect an app with Blue Button
Medicare can also send your claims straight to an app you authorize. On Medicare.gov, Find connected apps lists apps that work with it. You sign in to Medicare, approve the app, and it receives your claims as data, in a standard called FHIR.
Some apps let you save that raw data as a JSON file. Our free FHIR and Blue Button JSON viewer lays it out as readable tables, including every claim’s date, provider, and services, in your browser without uploading it.
3. Use the claims as a map to your results
Look through your Part B claims for lab tests. They are easy to spot by their procedure codes, which for lab work fall between 80000 and 89999. A few common ones:
| Code | Test |
|---|---|
| 80053 | Comprehensive metabolic panel |
| 80061 | Lipid panel |
| 83036 | Hemoglobin A1c |
| 84443 | TSH |
| 85025 | Complete blood count with differential |
For each test you find, note the date and who billed it. Then get the result from that source:
- Quest or Labcorp. If the lab billed Medicare directly, it has the report. See how to download your lab results from Quest and from Labcorp.
- A hospital or health system. Its patient portal, or a records request, has the result. Our guides for each portal cover the major ones.
- A doctor’s office that ran the test itself. Ask the practice for your records.
The claims are especially useful for the tests you forgot: a hospital stay, an urgent care visit, a specialist you saw once. Every one of them billed Medicare, so every one is on the list.
4. Request the results themselves
Once you know who has a result, you have a legal right to a copy. Under 45 CFR 164.524, providers and labs 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) Giving the date and the test from your claim makes the request quick to fill. How to get all of your medical records covers what to ask for.
Which one should you use?
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| See which tests you had, when, and where | The Medicare.gov claims download |
| Get your claims into an app | Blue Button, through a connected app |
| Get the actual results | The lab’s or provider’s portal, or a records request |
| Get data for a Medicare Advantage plan | Your plan’s member site or patient access API |
Where HealthViewer fits
HealthViewer is a lab results tracker for Mac and Windows. It reads the prescription fills in a Medicare Blue Button claims file into its medication list, so your drug history sits next to your labs. The lab results themselves come from the sources your claims point to: it reads Quest and Labcorp PDFs and health record files, and connects to Epic, Oracle Health, athenahealth, and eClinicalWorks portals. Everything stays in an encrypted file on your own computer.
If you are gathering results for a parent on Medicare, see how to keep track of an aging parent’s lab results, and for what to do with the history, read how to track your lab results over time.
Medicare and Blue Button are registered marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HealthViewer is not affiliated with or endorsed by HHS or CMS. CPT codes are maintained by the American Medical Association. Menu names on Medicare.gov change. This post is general information, not legal advice.