Tips for Organizing Medical Files

Keep critical paperwork together and easily searchable.  By Joshua Zerkel

Files related to you and your family’s health are important documents and should be effectively organized. The first thing to do in organizing the paperwork you receive from your doctors or insurance company is to separate it into categories. One category would be actual diagnoses or lab results. If you ever switch doctors, you’ll want these documents at hand and easily accessible for your own records or to pass on to the new doctor. Separate from that you’ll keep the financial paperwork—insurance, bills, EOBs, etc. When it comes to medical-related files there can be a voluminous amount of these documents, so it is important to separate it out into small, easily searchable chunks.

If you want to cross-reference your files, the easiest thing to do is to store them on your computer. That way you can tag your files by year and keep them in sub-categories or sub-folders. Before you begin tagging your files, think through the circumstances under which you might need to cross-reference them. If you are going to put in the time of digitally organizing and tagging your files, you want to be sure you’re doing it in a way that will be helpful to you months or years down the road.

If you prefer to keep the paper records, you can purchase specialty binders for medical records. These are typically meant for someone who has an ongoing condition that they are treating. If you are seeing a series of doctors about a specific condition, there is sure to be a lot of paperwork you’ll need to keep track of. These binders have different pockets for categories like lab tests, and things to talk about with the doctor at your next visit, or tracking what one doctor said versus another.

Excellent organizing advice Josh, thanks for sharing!