US doctors cannot see your records from home. Bringing them saves you time, money and repeated tests.
Vaccination record for every family member. Very important for schools, universities and green card medical exams.
A short summary from your doctor: diagnoses, surgeries, allergies and current medicines with doses.
Recent test results: blood tests, scans, heart tests.
Records for long-term conditions, pregnancies and children's growth.
Prescriptions for your medicines and glasses.
Ask your doctor at home to write the summary in English if they can. Generic medicine names help, because brand names differ.
For a doctor's visit, a clear personal translation is often enough. A doctor mainly needs the medicine names, doses, dates and diagnoses.
For official uses, such as school vaccine forms or the green card medical exam, you may need a full English translation with a statement from the translator that it is accurate. See the guide on translations.
Keep the original and the translation together.
Sharing records with a US doctor
Upload scans to the patient portal, or bring paper copies to your first visit.
Ask the office to add your vaccines and allergies to your US record.
Your doctor may enter your vaccines in the state's immunization registry.
Your rights to your US records
A federal privacy law, HIPAA, protects your health information and gives you the right to:
Get a copy of your records, on paper or electronically. The provider must answer within 30 days, sometimes with one 30-day extension. They can charge only a reasonable fee for copies.
Ask for a correction if something is wrong.
Choose how they contact you, for example only on your cell phone.
Your employer and your school cannot get your medical records without your written permission, except in limited cases.
When you move, ask each doctor for your records and a vaccination printout. Download what you can from the patient portal before you lose access.
Bringing only photos on one phone. Keep copies in a cloud folder too.
Bringing records that only list brand names from home.