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What Is a Medical Record Number (MRN) and How to Find It

Your medical record number (MRN) is the ID a hospital or clinic gives your chart. Where to find it in MyChart, Kaiser, Cerner, MEDITECH and VA portals, on your paperwork, and how it differs from an account number or member ID.

MMR
My Medical Records
Editorial team
July 21, 2025
12 min read

A medical record number (MRN) is the identifier a hospital or clinic assigns to your chart. It is how that organization tells your record from everyone else's, and it is the number the medical records department will ask for when you request copies, correct an error, or send your history to a new doctor. This guide shows where to find yours in the major patient portals and on your paperwork, and what an MRN is not.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Every hospital system assigns its own MRN. You have a different one at each organization that keeps a record on you.
  • The fastest places to look: the top of an After Visit Summary, your discharge paperwork, your hospital wristband, or your patient portal.
  • Your MRN is not your account number (that is per visit or per bill) and not your insurance member ID. Kaiser Permanente is the exception: its MRN is printed on the member card and doubles as the member ID.
  • Lab reports carry an identification number by law, but it may be the lab's own patient ID rather than your hospital MRN. Pharmacy labels carry no MRN at all.
  • The VA does not give patients an MRN; it matches you internally by its own identifier.

What is a medical record number?

A medical record number is the unique identifier a healthcare organization attaches to your chart. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) puts it plainly: "every hospital system assigns its own unique identifier (known as a medical record number) to each patient whose medical record it maintains." The number stays with you at that organization for life, across every visit, so your labs, notes, prescriptions and imaging there all file under one ID.

Formats vary. Some systems use plain digits (Epic's stock help text notes that a six-digit number is an old MRN and current ones are seven digits at that site); some use a letter prefix (one MEDITECH hospital describes "an M and 6 numbers after the M", another "a letter and nine digits"). The format tells you nothing about you; it is just that organization's numbering.

Unlike your Social Security number, an MRN is not universal. It is organization-specific, which is why keeping a list of your MRNs matters if you have been seen at more than one health system.

How to find your medical record number

Start with paper. Health systems print the MRN on most clinical documents, and AHIMA's own guidance is that you can find it "on your hospital paperwork, bills, and hospital bracelet." The usual places:

  • After Visit Summary (AVS): the printout or PDF you get at the end of a clinic visit. In Epic systems the MRN is printed at the top.
  • Discharge paperwork from an emergency visit, a hospital stay or a procedure. Several hospitals say it is at the bottom of the discharge instructions.
  • Your hospital wristband during a stay.
  • An appointment card or enrollment letter from the clinic. Some systems also issue a plastic ID card with the number on it.
  • Your patient portal, which is where most people look first. Where the number sits depends on the portal, so the next section goes system by system.

If none of those is at hand, call the health system's medical records department (often called Health Information Management). After they verify your identity, they can give you the number.

Where your MRN is in each patient portal

PortalWhere the MRN appearsNotes
MyChart (Epic)At the top of any After Visit Summary (Appointments, then a past visit, then After Visit Summary). Some systems also show it under your profile.Each health system runs its own MyChart; the MRN shown is that system's. UCLA Health, for example, lists it under Health, then My Profile on the website.
Kaiser PermanenteOn the front of your member ID card, and used as your sign-in identifier on kp.org.Kaiser's MRN is also your member ID. Northern California members are told not to type the "11" prefix when entering it online.
Cerner / Oracle Health (HealtheLife and hospital-branded portals)On your discharge paperwork and registration documents; hospitals use the MRN as the default identifier when you enroll.The portal itself may not display it. The hospital's Health Information Management office can give it to you.
MEDITECH portalsOn discharge information, your ID bracelet, a recent hospital bill or receipt, and in your registration packet.Formats differ by hospital (a letter plus six or nine digits are both in use).
VA (My HealtheVet and VA.gov)No patient-facing MRN. The VA identifies you internally by an Integration Control Number (ICN).When you request VA records you use your name, date of birth and other identity details, not an MRN.
athenahealth and other practice portalsVaries by practice.Ask the front desk or the practice's records contact for your chart number.

Two details worth knowing before you go hunting. First, the portal you log into is one organization's portal, so if your cardiologist and your hospital are on different systems you have two MRNs and two logins. Second, a portal that lets you see records from other organizations (Epic's Care Everywhere, for instance) does not merge the numbers; it matches you across organizations by name, date of birth and similar details, and each organization keeps its own MRN.

Is my medical record number the same everywhere?

No. AHIMA's answer is direct: "Different hospitals use different medical record numbers for you." Each organization that maintains a record on you assigns its own.

There is one case where a single number covers many locations: when hospitals and practices share one instance of an electronic record. Trinity Health, for example, tells patients that all of its hospitals and practices "will be on the same instance of Epic," so a visit near home and a visit out of town land in the same record. Inside a shared system you have one chart and one MRN; the moment you cross into a different system, you get a new one.

That is the practical reason to keep a list. A patient with a primary care practice, a hospital system, a specialist group and a Kaiser plan from a previous job can easily hold four MRNs. If you merge records from several doctors into one place, note the MRN next to each organization's records so a future request is a one-line email instead of a phone tree.

MRN vs. account number vs. member ID

These three get mixed up constantly, and giving the wrong one slows a records request or a billing call.

  • Medical record number (MRN): identifies you as a patient within one organization's clinical system. One per organization, for life.
  • Account number (also called an encounter or visit number): identifies a single episode of care for billing. Medicare's guide to reading a bill describes it as a number "assigned by the provider or facility and is unique to you," and hospitals generate a new one per visit; Hoag, for instance, explains that a separate accounting number is created for each outpatient date of service and each inpatient admission. On a statement you will often see both: the MRN links to your chart, the account number to that bill.
  • Member ID: the number on your insurance card, assigned by the plan, not by the hospital. Medicare's card carries a Medicare Number unique to you; commercial plans print their own member IDs. Kaiser Permanente is the documented exception, because its MRN is printed on the member card and used as the member ID.

When you are calling medical records, use the MRN. When you are calling billing, use the account number on the statement. When you are calling your insurer, use the member ID.

What is on a lab report, a bill or a pharmacy label

  • Lab reports: federal laboratory rules (CLIA) require every test report to carry positive patient identification, either your name and an identification number or a unique patient identifier. That number may be the lab's own patient ID, not your hospital's MRN, so do not assume the two match.
  • Bills: the account number is always there. Whether the MRN is printed varies by hospital; AHIMA says bills usually carry it, while at least one hospital tells patients it appears on most documents but not bills.
  • Pharmacy labels: federal law requires the dispenser's name and address, the prescription's serial number and date, the prescriber's name, your name and the directions. No MRN.

Why your MRN matters

The MRN is the key to your record inside one organization, and it is the number that makes three things faster:

  1. Requesting copies of your records. Under HIPAA you have a right to your records, and the request form almost always asks for the MRN. Our guide to requesting medical records from a hospital walks through the form, the fees and the deadlines, and what to do if records are withheld.
  2. Correcting an error. An amendment request names the chart by MRN. If you have ever found a wrong diagnosis in your record, the MRN is the first line of the letter.
  3. Transferring care. A new specialist who receives records with the sending organization's MRN can reconcile them quickly, and legal, disability and insurance reviews ask for it for the same reason.

What if I can't find my MRN?

Log into the organization's patient portal and open any past visit's After Visit Summary. If there is no summary, look at discharge paperwork, an appointment card or a recent hospital statement. If you still cannot find it, call the medical records or Health Information Management department; after verifying your identity (name, date of birth, address, often the last four digits of your Social Security number) they will provide it. You do not need the MRN to request your records, only to speed the request up.

Keep your MRNs in one place

The number itself is not sensitive the way a Social Security number is, but it is only useful when it sits next to the records it belongs to. My Medical Records stores each organization's MRN with the labs, prescriptions, imaging and notes from that organization, imports records by connecting MyChart, scanning a document or requesting records by fax, and lets you ask its AI health assistant questions that only your own history can answer, such as when a medication was first prescribed or how a lab value has moved. If you are weighing apps, our comparison of medical records apps puts the options side by side.

Frequently asked questions

What is an MRN number? An MRN number, or medical record number, is the unique identifier a hospital, clinic or health system assigns to your chart in its own records system. "MRN number" and "medical record number" mean the same thing.

How do I find my medical record number? Look at the top of an After Visit Summary, your discharge paperwork, a hospital wristband or an appointment card, or open a past visit in your patient portal. If none of those is available, the health system's medical records department can give it to you after verifying your identity.

Is my MRN the same at every hospital? No. Each hospital system assigns its own MRN, so you have a different number at each organization that keeps a record on you. Only hospitals and practices that share one electronic record system share one MRN.

Is the MRN the same as my account number? No. The MRN identifies you as a patient and stays the same across visits; the account number identifies one visit or bill and changes each time. A statement usually shows both.

Is my MRN my insurance member ID? Usually not. The member ID is assigned by your insurance plan and printed on your insurance card. Kaiser Permanente is the exception: its medical record number is on the member card and serves as the member ID.

Where is my MRN in MyChart? At the top of any After Visit Summary: open Appointments, choose a past visit, then After Visit Summary. Some health systems also show it in your profile. Because each health system runs its own MyChart, the number you see is that system's MRN.

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