Online medical records, such as clinical notes, medication lists and test results, are digitized versions of a patient’s health history. With records now more widely available in digital formats, patients can more easily access their own and their family members’ health information. While Ontarians have multiple pathways to access these records, the process can be confusing and fragmented.
There is a growing need for patients—and their families—to securely access their records in a single, centralized location. This is especially helpful for caregivers responsible for managing someone else’s health information, such as those with elderly parents or those with children with complex medical needs.
This article outlines clear steps for families to access and manage their medical records online securely. It also offers practical tips and explains how to obtain patient information through trusted platforms like PocketHealth, which centralizes imaging and other health records under one login.
Online medical records contain the same information traditionally found in a paper chart, but the data is now digital and stored in an electronic system. Here’s a breakdown of the type of information included:
These records can be stored and managed in different ways. For instance, EHRs (electronic health records) contain a patient’s combined health history and are typically accessible to a wide range of physicians and health care facilities at the provincial level.
EMRs, or electronic medical records, sound similar but are usually managed by a single provider or facility and are not designed to be widely accessible by other physicians unless there is a specific request or need to share them.
For patients, different providers may offer different digital access options and different types of data. One example is patient portals, which allow online access to appointment notes, lab results and similar information.
Some providers may only be able to offer fragmented access, depending on the portal or medical record system they use. It is also common for certain data to be excluded on the patient side, such as actual X-ray or MRI images versus the imaging reports. In these cases, a formal written request may be required to obtain them.
In Canada, most provinces have legislation governing patient records and their safeguarding. In Ontario, the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) governs health privacy.
PHIPA outlines how “health information custodians” must collect, use and disclose a patient’s personal medical data, including how to share it with other clinics. The act also gives patients the right to access their own medical records, such as obtaining copies or requesting corrections when applicable. These requests often require submitting an official form with a signature and may involve a small fee.
Ontario has a wide and varied health system that includes multiple clinics, hospitals, specialists and other medical facilities. While many of these entities provide patients with some unified EHR access, there is no single point of access for all of a patient’s medical records.
One reason this information can be siloed is the variety of health record systems. Larger, interconnected clinics and hospitals are more likely to use the same systems and have the same access permissions, unlike small, independent primary care clinics that manage and maintain their own patient records.
When information needs to be shared across providers, it often happens through specific referrals or patient requests. If the patient initiates the record-sharing process, they usually must complete an official form and provide a signature to meet legal requirements.
Now that you have an overview of medical records in Ontario, here’s how to safely manage your online records in one place.
The first step is to determine where your records are currently stored. If you’ve visited multiple hospitals, specialists and clinics, your records may be scattered. Additional facilities, such as laboratories and pharmacies, may also hold information you need. Some possible barriers include inconsistent formats, multiple portals with different logins and the possible need to request access or provide consent multiple times.
If you don’t already have access, the next step is to request it from your providers, assuming they have patient portals. Login permissions and credentials are often required for these portals, so you may need them granted. If you’re using a medical record platform, such as PocketHealth, you can easily access your own imaging records and reports through the platform, without contacting each health care facility.
If a provider does not offer online patient access, you may need to request a copy of your records through the clinic or health information custodian, to which they are legally required to respond.
Your personal health information can come in many formats, especially if you have a long medical history with multiple types of files, such as paper copies or CDs. It can be helpful to download or digitize all your medical information to better preserve and track it. This may involve scanning paper documents, downloading PDFs or imaging from CDs/USBs or saving data from patient portals.
Centralizing your family’s records in a single secure platform is particularly helpful because all records are digitized and stored in one location with a single login. There is no need to track different formats, locations or logins.
PocketHealth is a strong solution for both accessing and storing your health records. You can easily upload and manage your family’s medical information from one place and request imaging records from your providers, which will be uploaded to the platform. Additional tools are also available, such as easy-to-understand reports and surfacing recommended follow-up actions.
To stay organized, regularly updating your family’s centralized medical records can be helpful. Keeping records up to date on a unified platform ensures information is relevant and ready to share when needed. Maintaining ongoing updates also provides a more thorough health history, which can improve accuracy and care coordination.
This may require regularly requesting records from health information custodians or downloading them from various patient portals. For PocketHealth users, imaging records are already easily accessible on the platform.
Regardless of where the records come from, regularly organizing and uploading new patient data to your platform can keep family health information manageable without becoming overwhelming.
One benefit of keeping your personal health information in one place is the ability to share it with other providers. Because you control your own records, you can easily send them to specialists, emergency care professionals or for second opinions.
You don’t need to request them formally and wait for delivery; they can be sent and received within seconds. Digital sharing features help keep this data secure, including expiration settings, access links and other functions that protect your information.
Here are some of the benefits of keeping your family records in a single location.
Care coordination improves when records are easily accessible. Whenever a family member sees a new doctor or specialist, they can quickly review prior records, keeping them up to date and reducing the risk of duplicate tests and miscommunication.
Substitute decision makers, such as parents of children with complex health conditions or caretakers of aging parents, are especially empowered by unified family medical records. Keeping up with changes in their health enables them to provide better support. They can also easily share records with their family members’ medical team without requesting access from multiple providers.
Being in charge of your own records gives you greater control over who can access this information and when it is shared. You can also better protect your information with digital backups instead of vulnerable paper copies or CDs, which can be misplaced or damaged.
Travelling and emergencies can be stressful and may unexpectedly require fast access to your family’s medical information. If you have this data at your fingertips, you can quickly share it, enabling new health care providers to immediately get up to speed on the patient’s health history and other critical medical factors.
Ontario’s health care system is diverse and complex. Because there is no unifying medical record system for patient access, many Ontarians face challenges getting all their information. Platforms like PocketHealth provide a strong solution to this fragmentation, especially for those managing their family’s records.
PocketHealth’s Unlimited plan lets you add up to four family members under a single login. This means you don’t have to manage multiple portals and accounts. You can create a complete health snapshot for each family member and easily update their records using an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
Additionally, in-depth explanations of imaging reports and definitions of complex medical terminology help you better understand your family’s health, empowering you to advocate for their needs and your own.
Here are some common questions regarding medical record access in Ontario.
If your provider offers patient portals, you can often view your records online. For providers without this feature, you can submit a formal written request. They are legally required to provide your records, which may be sent by mail, email, hard copy or digitally. Keep in mind there may be a small fee and a short waiting period.
Most clinics and health care facilities use some form of online record-keeping and commonly provide patients with access through portals. However, you may still encounter providers who don’t offer this, in which case you would need to submit a formal records request. Once you have this information, you can scan or download it to a secure platform or save it to your computer.
Most Ontario medical facilities use some form of EHRs or EMRs; however, there is no single unified access for all patients and doctors. This means records can sometimes be fragmented and siloed, requiring patients to take extra steps to gather their complete health history from multiple sources.
Having legal access to a family member’s records depends on specific circumstances. If they are over a certain age (16 in Ontario) and considered capable of consent, they may need to authorize you to access their records. Otherwise, legal guardians generally have access to their children’s records.
Under PHIPA, when an adult patient is deemed incapable of providing consent, a substitute decision-maker may access their records on their behalf, provided they meet specific criteria and have legal authorization to act in the patient’s best interests.
Published: December 11, 2025
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