You have four real routes out of DrChrono: the built-in exports (free, fine for the basics), the API (complete and structured, but an engineering project), the EHI export every certified EHR must offer under federal rules, and a plain written request to support. Which one you need depends on why you want the data—and the difference between a smooth exit and a bad one is usually not the export itself, but whether anyone verified it.
We say this from experience: we've planned and delivered a complete, verified export of a practice's records, and the process below is the one that works.
What "your data" actually includes
Before picking a route, inventory what exists. A practice's records are more than charts: patient demographics, appointments (past and future), clinical notes, problem lists, medications and allergies, lab results, documents and scanned attachments, and the billing history—claims, payments, balances. Two of these are chronically forgotten in migrations: documents (scans, faxes, referral letters—usually the bulk of the total size) and future appointments, which the new system needs on day one.
Write the inventory down with counts: how many patients, how many documents, how many open claims. Those numbers are what you'll verify against later.
Route 1: the built-in exports
DrChrono's own tools cover the basics: patient lists as spreadsheets and charts as PDFs. For some jobs that's genuinely enough—an audit file, records for a departing physician, a backup for peace of mind.
Know the limitation: a PDF chart is for reading, not importing. If you're migrating to a new EHR, PDFs become attachments in the new system, not structured data—the new EHR can display them, but it can't put a medication list from a PDF into its medication module. Built-in exports are a fine start and a poor finish.
Route 2: the EHI export the law guarantees
Since the 21st Century Cures Act rules took effect, certified EHRs must provide an electronic health information export—for a single patient and for your whole population—and the federal information-blocking rules restrict vendors from unreasonably impeding access to your records. This is the route many practices don't know they have: a machine-readable export of the electronic health information the system holds, in a format the vendor is required to document publicly.
DrChrono is certified to that rule, and its EHI export is a self-service tool inside the EHR: it produces a spreadsheet for every table plus a folder of the underlying documents, faxes, lab PDFs, and referrals—and DrChrono's terms say it comes at no additional charge.
The catch is the format is the vendor's choice, so what comes out is complete but not neatly shaped for your destination system. Expect real work between "we have the export" and "the new EHR imported it." Still: when a vendor's first answer is "we only do PDFs," the EHI export requirement is the polite, legally grounded second question.
And a caveat: I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. Record-retention rules, the information-blocking exceptions, and your own contract with the vendor all have details that matter, so make sure talking to your counsel—and coming up with a migration plan they're satisfied with—is part of the project.
Route 3: the API
DrChrono has a real API, and it's the most complete structured route out: patients, appointments, clinical notes, documents, and billing records, all machine-readable. This is how you get a copy of everything in a form the next system—or your own reporting tools—can actually use.
It's also an engineering project: authentication, working through records page by page at the pace the vendor allows, downloading every attachment, and handling the quirks any large API has. For a practice with thousands of patients, that's a script running carefully for days, not an afternoon of clicking. This is the route we take when the goal is a complete, verified copy, and it's work we've done hands-on.
Route 4: ask, in writing
Unglamorous and underrated: open a support ticket asking for a full practice export, in writing, with a date you need it by. Vendors handle departing practices routinely, some offer paid export services, and a written trail matters if you later need to point at the information-blocking rules. Do this in parallel with whichever technical route you choose.
This can take several days, so do it early: this also doesn't let you do it on an ongoing basis, which is hard when you're running two systems in parallel (common during cutovers to new EHRs).
Which route fits which job
| Route | What you get | Good for | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in exports | Spreadsheets, chart PDFs | Backups, audits, single records | Hours, DIY |
| EHI export | Complete machine-readable files, vendor's format | Migrations, full copies | Vendor request plus translation work |
| API | Everything, structured, in shapes you choose | Migrations, reporting, integrations | An engineering project |
| Written request | Whatever the vendor offers | Every exit, as a paper trail | An email—do it regardless |
The step most practices skip: verification
An export nobody checked is a rumor. The verification is arithmetic: the inventory said 4,200 patients and 60,000 documents; does the export contain 4,200 patients and 60,000 documents? Spot-check a sample of charts against the live system. Open a handful of documents and confirm they're readable, not corrupted placeholders. Confirm future appointments made the trip.
And the rule that costs nothing but saves practices real grief: keep the old subscription running until verification passes. DrChrono's terms say your data may be kept for 30 days after termination and then destroyed, with no way to recover it. The month of overlap isn't caution; it's the only window you get, and it's the cheapest insurance in this whole project.
If you're leaving because the subscription stack stopped making sense, the custom vs. off-the-shelf cost comparison covers that math honestly—the monthly fee was never the lock-in; the data is. And if you'd rather hand the whole thing to someone who has done it: our app development service scopes EHR export and migration work with a written inventory first and a fixed quote, starting with a free conversation about which of the four routes your situation actually needs.