Any healthcare practice you go to now should be using electronic medical records and have patient access portal ( MyChart etc). That will give you access to visit notes and labs for the last eight or nine years anyway. That’s all you really need. There’s certainly no point in getting the CD of your mammogram.

I was having the same issue as OP. I'm in Arlington so I made the decision to try and see only doctors who are associated with Virginia Hospital Center. I've been switching over the past few years and now all my records are in the VHC portal.

You really do not need to do the thing you are picturing. Seriously. It’s a good idea to have your most recent results of any test around, but you don’t need back years unless there was an issue specifically being followed.

-Person with many specialists

The CD is a copy of the radiology images. It's a good habit to het a copy of all imaging but it's more important to get the written report. They will give you copies of written radiology reports, but if it is a lot the doc office might charge you per page.

Or, if they offer you a CD for images or copies of written reports, you can ask if it's OK if you provide a thumb drive instead. Most computers still have USB ports.

You don't need a copy of the mammo. You might want a CD copy of an MRI, depending on what it is. Some radiologists put those on the portal now.

Your electronic record will have a lot/most/all of the important information. It used to be spotty but it's gotten much better lately.

I want to take charge of my health records - what is the best way to do this? For 15 years, my only real doctor was my OBGYN; post-baby years, I have floated around as needed. But I don't feel like I have a handle on all the various tests/records. They're in my head, generally, but putting them in one place would be ideal. It seems like an insurmountable task, though. One provider - the radiologist that did a mammogram told me I'd have to request my records through some onerous process, and then come get them on a CD! What am I supposed to do with that?? I don't even have a computer that reads CDs anymore.