October is Organize Your Medical Files Month

Are your personal medical files organized? Can you find what you’re looking for when you need it or do you waste time, get frustrated and give up? You may have various types of medical information, but if it’s just thrown into one folder labeled “medical,” it isn’t really efficient. 

Develop a working filing system going forward. Set up hanging files for each category of information that you have. You can keep them in a file drawer or keep them contained in a portable file box. Choose which system fits you and your family. Next time you go to search for medical test results, a receipt, or insurance explanation of benefits, it will be exactly where it is supposed to be.

Here are five tips to get you on your way to having organized medical files:

1. Grab all your medical files and bring them to a table. Just like any other organizing project, you won’t know what you have unless you take everything out of the file. 
2. Start sorting and categorizing. Think about the categories of information that you have like: Medical receipts 
   
   
   • Explanation of benefits
   • Lab work
   • Test results
   • Insurance information
   • Dental information
   • Family member’s information (Create files for each family member)
   • Pet records (We can’t forget about our pets!)
   • Medication information
3. Shred anything that is no longer useful to you. There may be papers that you thought you might have needed just in case, but now you no longer need them. Shred anything that you know you will not need to refer to going forward.
4. Create hanging files for each of the categories. If you want to break out the categories, you can also create manila folders labeled within the hanging files.
5. To locate files quickly, file in alphabetical order. It will be easier to locate a file if it is in alphabetical order as opposed to having your eye wander to try and find a folder. 

Going forward you will be able to know exactly where medical information gets filed when it arrives in the home. The piles won’t form and as soon as it arrives in the home, you can immediately file it. When you need to refer to a piece of medical information, it will be at your fingertips. 

Be sure to mark on your calendar once a year to go through your medical files and purge any files that you no longer need.