As of April 1st, the TRICARE Online (TOL) Patient Portal has officially closed. What does this mean for you? If you didn’t download your older medical records before the shutdown, retrieving them will be a bit more complicated; but don’t worry, they are not lost. Let’s break down what you need to know.

Military medical care is constantly evolving, so while the closure of the TOL portal may seem inconvenient, it’s still manageable. To clarify the process, I reached out to the 5th Medical Group and explored MHS Genesis myself to see what records were available. Although the experience wasn’t entirely seamless, I was able to access medical records for both myself and my children dating back to 2022. However, anything prior to that appears to no longer be available through the new system.

The military has issued several reminders urging people to download their records before the April 1st transition, but what happens if you didn’t? In a TRICARE Newsroom article titled TRICARE Online Patient Portal Decommissioning: Download Your Health Records Now, officials reassured patients that “providers will still have access to your complete health records.” This means that while personal access may be more difficult, military medical providers still have your records on file.

1st Lt. Rachel Folsom of the 5th Medical Group confirmed that past medical records are still available through your primary care provider, regardless of which base you are stationed at. She explained, “Medical records are available through the beneficiaries’ military hospital or clinic. They just won’t be able to download their legacy electronic health records from the TOL Portal for personal use.”

In the same article mentioned above, it also stated: ”If you missed the opportunity to download your records before April 1st, you can still request a physical copy from your military hospital or clinic’s records management office. To do this, you’ll need to complete a request form in person and return at a later date to pick up your records”

Now that we’ve established your older records are still accessible, let’s talk about retrieving more recent medical records through MHS Genesis. If you haven’t yet, log into MHS Genesis and explore what’s available. My experience with the system was a bit clunky, but I was ultimately able to access my health record information, but only from now back to 2021.

My Experience Logging into MHS Genesis:

1. Googled “MHS Genesis Patient Portal” and located the correct link.
2. Forgot my login credentials and had to recover both my username and password.
3. Answered security questions and reset my password (which requires updating every 60 days).
4. Logged in, completed verification via text code, and accepted government policy agreements.
5. Finally accessed the portal and retrieved records, including immunization history and lab results.
6. Attempted to download a 2022 health report but received an error message.
7. All other available records were viewable.
   

While I haven’t interacted with MHS Genesis much in the past, the transition doesn’t seem like a major issue. The records are there if needed, and while retrieving them may not be as seamless as before, it’s still possible. If you require your medical history for a doctor outside the military system, your primary care provider should be able to obtain and transfer the necessary documents from your entire health record.

Ultimately, if you didn’t download your records from the TOL portal before it shut down, that’s okay. The military still has your older records on file, and you’ll continue to receive the same level of care moving forward—just through a new system, the MHS Genesis.