Medical Preparedness · Medical Documents and Records
Medical Documents and Records: the paperwork that speaks for you.
Three planning guides for the records that let a pharmacist, a paramedic, or a backup caregiver help someone they have never met.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
Planning guidance, not medical advice. This section helps households prepare for medical continuity during disruptions. Work with your doctor, pharmacist, and specialist for your household's specific medical needs.
What this category covers
Everyone helping you starts from zero. Your records close the gap.
In an evacuation shelter, an unfamiliar emergency room, or a pharmacy in another town, the people helping you know nothing about your household. CDC's Prepare Your Health program recommends keeping copies of health insurance cards, immunization records, and current care plans such as advance directives, asthma action plans, and food allergy plans.1
Ready.gov's kit list includes copies of insurance policies and identification,2 and its guidance for older adults adds copies of Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance cards.3 The guides here turn those lists into a working system: what to keep, how to order it, and where each copy lives.
Records only help when someone can reach them. That is why these guides pair a paper folder, which works without power or signal, with a digital backup that survives the loss of the folder.
What these guides do not cover
- Drafting advance directives or other legal documents. Your attorney and providers handle those.
- Interpreting test results or medical records.
- Everyday record keeping between appointments: Personal Health Records
- Financial and household papers: Planning
Where to start
Four steps from scattered papers to one folder.
-
Gather the essentials.
Insurance cards, each person's medication list, allergies, and any care plans.1
Emergency Medical Documents -
Build one folder.
Thin, waterproof, labeled, and kept in the same place every time.
Grab-and-Go Medical Folder -
Back it up.
Decide what lives on paper and what lives digitally, then test that you can reach the digital copy without your own phone.
Digital vs. Paper Records -
Put a review date on it.
CDC suggests checking emergency kit contents every six months.4 Update sooner when a medication, provider, or insurance plan changes.
Household Medical Profile
Guides in this category
Three guides. What to keep, how to carry it, where to back it up.
Emergency Medical Documents
The complete document list, essentials first, plus where copies should live and a maintenance schedule that keeps them accurate.
Read the guide
Grab-and-Go Medical Folder
How to assemble a folder your household can reach in a minute and a caregiver or paramedic can read in two.
Read the guide
Digital vs. Paper Records
Which records belong on paper, which belong in a digital backup, and the mistakes that leave records unreachable.
Read the guide
Related guides elsewhere in Medical Preparedness
Common questions
Planning questions, answered plainly.
What medical documents should I keep with my emergency supplies?
CDC recommends copies of health insurance cards, immunization records, and current care plans such as advance directives, asthma action plans, and food allergy plans.1 CDC also recommends a list of prescription medicines with diagnosis, dosage, frequency, medical supply needs, and allergies.5
Should medical records be on paper or on my phone?
Both, for different jobs. Paper works with no power, signal, or battery. A digital copy survives the loss of the folder and can be shared from anywhere. The Digital vs. Paper guide sets out which documents belong in each.
How often should I update my medical documents?
Update them whenever a medication, diagnosis, provider, or insurance plan changes, and check them on a schedule. CDC suggests checking emergency kit contents every six months to make sure they are current.4
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prepare Your Health: Paperwork. https://www.cdc.gov/prepare-your-health/take-action/paperwork.html. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Ready.gov (FEMA). Build a Kit. https://www.ready.gov/kit. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Ready.gov (FEMA). Older Adults. https://www.ready.gov/older-adults. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Building an Emergency Kit (Disability and Emergency Preparedness). https://www.cdc.gov/disability-emergency-preparedness/people-with-disabilities/build-a-kit.html. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prepare Your Health: Prescriptions. https://www.cdc.gov/prepare-your-health/take-action/prescriptions.html. Accessed October 6, 2026.
Connected guides
Medical Documents and Records connects to the rest of your plan.
First Aid
The hands-on half: emergencies, wounds, burns, and the household kit.
Household Medical Profile
The record your documents support.
Medication List
The single most important page in the folder.
Medical Bag
Where a second copy of the folder travels.
Older Adults and Caregivers
Records a backup caregiver will need.
Household Planning
The wider household plan these records belong to.