The moment you are born, your health information would follow you. A comprehensive health record attached to you, a vast health history attached to you and easily accessible, would trail you like a magnetic cape, capturing all your vital signs, doctor visits, medical tests, diagnoses, prescriptions, and hospital stays.

Unfortunately, the world has not yet developed a system to track the volume of health data you generate. As a result, you must gather it on your own, stitching together a patchwork of medical minute details and milestones spanning decades.

Kelly Batista, executive director of the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System in Florida, says it can become overwhelming and can feel like an additional burden.

Make use of patient portals

Patient portals allow you to access your medical information through a particular provider’s secure website.

“These portals contain information about your medical history, your test results, and your interactions with the provider. You can also communicate with providers, ask questions, and srtals alschedule appointments,” Batista says.

You can do the following with POO:

• During or after your visit, your doctor may have written notes.
• You can download your medical records.
• View your provider’s prescriptions and request refills.
• You need to make payments to your provider.
• Keep your insurance information up-to-date.
• (Depending on the provider) Take part in telehealth visits.

Some portals even allow users to add their own health observations. Consumers can use it to document information that isn’t accessible to the care team. For example, they can say what If If you have a fitness tracker, you can add information about your mood.’s a repository where you can keep all of that information in one location,” says Rema Padman, a health care informatics, analytics and operations researcher and Trustees Professor of Management Science and Healthcare Informatics at Carnegie Mellon University.

Mobile health apps can be used

You can add mood information to fitness trackers by using pps – apps or programs that you download to your smartphone. Over 300,000 health apps track walking, sleep, fitness, diet, and chronic diseases like diabetes. In addition to tracking health conditions, these apps are helpful for managing day-to-day events,” says Padman. “Health care providers are also using apps and wearables to monitor patients at high risk for adverse events, so they can intervene early and prevent hospitalizations or emergency room visits.”

You can also upload information from your fitness tracker or mood tracker. It has the same functions you’ll find on the website, like communicating with your medical team, scheduling appointments, and updating information. That can be handy when you’re on the go or you’re at a doctor’s appointment and need to share information with someone who doesn’t have access to it.

The information from your patient portal may also be able to be downloaded to other mobile health apps, such as those that help you manage chronic diseases or pregnancy. That way, you’ll have more information in one place.

You can track your health information by having physical copies of your medical records. To obtain these, you will need to request them from a provider, pick them up personally or have them mailed to you.

Keeping paper records organized in folders, boxes, or 3-ring binders is helpful once you obtain them. “For instance, a three-ring binder with tabs can easily organize a patient’s medical information in categories such as allergies, medications, diagnostic scans, and lab work. When patients assemble their own binder, they can easily reorganize and modify it as needed. In addition to adding a calendar to binders, patients can also keep track of their upcoming appointments and events,” says Alexis Eastes, a patient navigator based in Venice, Florida.

or your doctor’s reference.