Moving doctors or countries? How to bring your medical history with you
Your new doctor sees an empty file. Years of results stayed behind, in another clinic, another system, maybe another language. Here is how to take them with you.
Ana is 36. She grew up and had all her care in Lisbon, then moved to Boston for work. At her first appointment with a new GP, the file was empty. Her past blood tests were in Portuguese, from three different labs, and some were in units the new practice doesn’t use: her glucose in mmol/L rather than mg/dL, her vitamin D in nmol/L rather than ng/mL.
The doctor asked for her history. Ana remembered roughly what had been tested, but not when, and not the numbers.
Before you move: collect everything
It is much easier to get records while you are still a patient, and still in the same country. Ask each doctor, clinic and lab for:
- lab results from the last several years, with each lab’s reference ranges
- a summary of diagnoses, operations and hospital stays
- your current medications, with doses
- your vaccination record
- imaging reports and specialist letters
Ask for PDFs where possible, and keep paper originals.
Expect different units and ranges
Countries and labs don’t all report results the same way. Many labs outside the US report in SI units, while many US labs use conventional units, so the same result can look like a completely different number:
| Test | Ana’s Lisbon report | Same value in US units |
|---|---|---|
| Glucose (fasting) | 5.2 mmol/L | 94 mg/dL |
| Vitamin D | 75 nmol/L | 30 ng/mL |
| Creatinine | 71 µmol/L | 0.80 mg/dL |
Tip: when you copy a result into your notes, always copy the unit and the range printed on that report. A number without its unit can’t be compared safely. If you convert a value, keep the original next to it.
At your first visit: one page, not a stack
Bring a one-page summary: diagnoses, medications, allergies, recent results with dates, and anything still being followed up. Keep the full reports in a folder, ready to share if the doctor wants detail. If your records are in another language, ask the practice whether they need a translation and how they prefer to receive one.
The same applies when you change doctors at home
You don’t have to cross a border for your history to stay behind. Changing insurance, moving across the country or switching practice can leave your results in a system your new doctor can’t see. The steps are the same: collect, keep the units and ranges, and bring one page.
How Backstory does this for you
Backstory reads lab reports, scans and letters from any hospital and puts them on one timeline. Results from different labs are shown in one unit so they line up, each against its own lab’s range, and the original value is always one tap away. Before your first visit, you share a one-page summary with your new doctor, with every number linked to the report it came from.
For Ana, the new file would no longer be empty. Her first appointment could start with her history already on the table.
Keep reading
- Every lab result said “normal”. Together they told a different story.
- How to keep an aging parent’s medical records in one place
- Backstory Health FAQ: how the app works, privacy and pricing
This article is about organizing records, and the people in it are fictional examples. It isn’t medical advice. Talk to your doctor or clinic about your results and treatment.