You can automatically download your health records to the Health app on your iPhone and iPad for easy viewing and understanding. Here is how to set it up and why it may be better than your medical network’s native app.

How to Connect Your Medical Account to the Health App

Connecting your account from your doctor’s medical network to the Health app is simple. It’s the same process as logging in to your network’s native app.

Unlike sharing your medical information with your doctor, which is very limited on the medical networks that support it, this allows you to receive information from them about previous tests and documents. This could include results from a blood test, a recent appointment, a mediation change, and more.

To connect your accounts, make your way into the Health app and then tap on the “Browse” tab from the bottom menu. Now scroll down to the Health Records section and tap “Add Account.”

Once you do, a list of recommended hospitals, networks, and locations will appear. You can either swipe through them to find your medical network or use the search bar at the top to find it precisely.

After you find your network and tap on it, you’ll be greeted by a splash screen informing you of the documentation that’ll be imported into the Health app. You then tap “Connect Account” at the bottom of the message and will be brought to your network’s native app to finish the setup.

Once everything is connected, all of your current and previous medical documentation will be imported into the Health app for you to review. Any future medical documentation will also be imported once it is added to your medical account.

You can log in to more than one account if you visit multiple doctors in different networks. If that’s the case, each medical document imported will state the data source it’s coming from—which is the medical account that received it.

For security reasons, your account will only temporarily stay connected to the Health app, which can be up to one year. Once that period expires, the Health app will ask you to sign in to your account again.

All previous documents imported will remain in the Health app if you get signed out. The only documents that will not appear are future ones added to your account after you’re signed out, but they will appear once you sign back in.

What Information Will Be Imported Into Apple Health?

Allergies, clinical notes and vitals, conditions, immunization history, lab results, and medical records will be imported into the Health app for you to view. This will consist of your medical account’s previous, current, and future documentation of such topics.

Future medical documentation added to your account will hit your medical network’s native app before coming to the Health app. This is because the native app is used as a bridge between your doctor’s office and the Health app.

Once new health records are available, the Health app will notify you. The notification will also appear at the top of the Summary tab within the same app.

Tapping on the notification within the Notification Center or the Health app will take you to all your health records.

Why I Use the Health App Over My Medical Network’s Native App

Before I could sync to the Health app, I used the MyChart app to view my medical information and history.

Although I still have the app downloaded on my devices, I primarily use it to renew medications, message my doctor, and schedule appointments. I prefer the Health app when viewing lab results or progress reports.

Realistically, the MyChart app will receive my test results before the Health app does, but this is because the results must pass through that account before ending up in the Health app. However, it’s only a few minutes early, and I don’t have to wait long for them to appear in the Health app.

Once my results come over, I can dive into them and decipher what they mean. Previously, when viewing my lab results, I had to Google the meaning of each medical term and lab result. In the Health app, the definition is conveniently located underneath the results when you tap on them.

The average patient, like myself, doesn’t have a wide knowledge of medical terminology, so providing definitions of each lab result can help them understand their current medical condition. It’s not enough to make educated decisions over the direction of your care, but it can encourage you to have deeper conversations with your doctors if you see any of their vitals out of range or want reassurance about a particular result.

Additionally, with my past, present, and future medical records being imported into the Health app, I can view my results over the last week, month, six months, year, or five years. It’ll also give me highlights based on previous results imported.

If you frequently have a specific lab test done and want to monitor your results closely, you can pin it to the top of the lab results tab to easily access them.

On top of this, importing data into the Health app ensures that it’s conveniently available whenever you need it, in a single location. If you have an Apple Watch, all of your activity, heart rate, blood oxygen, and other data is right there. Apple Health-compatible medical devices like continuous blood glucose monitoring systems (CGM) also report to this location.

And because Apple Health pulls data, it stores it both locally on your device (great for times when you don’t have internet access for whatever reason), and syncs via iCloud to keep data safe and current on other devices like the iPad.

Importing your health records to the Health app is not mandatory, but it is a great way to keep all your medical information in one place that offers an easy-to-understand format.

Unfortunately, not all medical networks initially connected to the Health app, so I had to wait until my network became available. If you can’t find your network, you may have to wait until the option becomes available.