KeptWell vs MyChart
KeptWell vs MyChart: a head-to-head comparison
MyChart is the patient portal that hospitals running on Epic license — for messaging the care team, scheduling appointments, getting real-time lab results, and managing prescription refills, it is the tool we are not. KeptWell is the layer that sits above every patient portal a family has to deal with, every paper record from a provider that does not have one, and every audio recording of what the doctor actually said. This page walks through where MyChart wins, where KeptWell wins, and why most families end up using both.
The short version
MyChart is irreplaceable inside one hospital. KeptWell is built for the gap between hospitals. If your loved one's care happens entirely inside one Epic system, you can probably get by with MyChart alone. The moment a second provider, a second portal, an old paper record, or an audio recording enters the picture — which happens to almost every family eventually — KeptWell does the job MyChart cannot.
Feature-by-feature, side by side
MyChart Central went live nationwide in late 2025, which unifies your Epic logins across hospitals — but explicitly excludes proxy-accessed records, and does not unify what is inside those records. KeptWell unifies the contents, not just the login.
| Feature | KeptWell | MyChart |
|---|---|---|
| What the product is built for | A layer above every record in the family — portals, paper, audio | A patient portal for one hospital that licenses Epic |
| Records from a non-Epic provider | Yes — Upload whatever you have, from anywhere | Partial — TEFCA bridges some interop, but uneven across systems |
| Paper records from older providers | Yes — Photograph or scan the page; the AI reads it | No — Not in scope |
| Audio recording of a visit, transcribed | Yes | No |
| AI reads every record in plain English | Yes — Claude reads every page end-to-end with citations | Partial — Emmie AI gives per-message answers; not whole-record reading |
| Family circle shared across the household | Yes — One circle, many members; admin and member roles | Partial — Per-hospital proxy paperwork; restricted for children at 12 |
| Real-time clinical messaging with the care team | No — Not what we do | Yes — The core feature |
| Prescription refills and appointment scheduling | No | Yes |
| Bill pay and insurance forms | No | Yes |
| Lab values charted over time across providers | Yes | Partial — Within one Epic system; cross-system varies |
| Cost | Free today; named price + sponsored access later | Free; bundled with care at the hospital |
| Sells data or trains AI on records | No — Written promise. Anthropic under BAA. | Hospital policies vary; check the specific hospital |
When KeptWell is the fit
Pick KeptWell when
These are the gaps that send families looking for something on top of the patient portal they already have.
Care is happening in more than one hospital
MyChart Central, live nationwide as of late 2025, lets one Epic ID unify your MyChart logins across hospitals — which solves the password-fatigue problem but explicitly excludes proxy-accessed records and does not unify what is inside those records. If your loved one sees doctors in two Epic systems, three Epic systems, or any mix of Epic and non-Epic, you still have multiple charts to make sense of. KeptWell is built for that exact situation: one place that holds records from every provider, every portal, every paper file, all read by the same AI in the same plain-English voice.
The whole family needs access on the same terms
MyChart's proxy access is paperwork-per-hospital and rule-bound by state — most Epic hospitals automatically restrict parent proxy access once a child turns twelve, a policy currently being challenged in court by the Texas Attorney General. KeptWell circles are not paperwork. Add a spouse, a sibling, an adult child, a social worker. Everyone sees the same record. Remove someone with one click. The structure is built for the way actual families work, not the way one hospital's compliance team built its proxy form.
You want to ask the chart questions, not just read the chart
MyChart's Emmie assistant — Epic's patient AI, live across many hospitals — answers per-message questions, mostly operational (appointments, billing, refills). KeptWell's chat has read every document in the circle end-to-end and answers clinical questions with citations back to the source page. Ask "what did the cardiologist say about the medication adjustment" or "how has the A1C trended over the last year" and get a real answer with the receipts. That is a different scope of AI, built for a different question.
Honest tradeoffs
Pick MyChart when
MyChart does several things KeptWell does not — and we are not building any of them. These are the cases where MyChart is the right tool and we will say so.
- You need to message your care team
- Sending a clinical question directly to the doctor or nurse, getting a response from a real provider, requesting a refill, asking about a symptom — all of that runs through MyChart at Epic hospitals and we do not replace any of it. KeptWell has no provider-facing surface. If your immediate problem is reaching the care team, MyChart is the tool. Use it for what it is built for.
- You want real-time labs, refills, and scheduling
- Lab results that post the same day they are run, prescription refill requests, appointment scheduling against the provider's actual calendar — these are deep integrations with the hospital's electronic health record, and only the portal that hospital provides can do them. KeptWell holds the records once they exist. If what you need is the live operational layer with the hospital, MyChart is the only thing that delivers it.
- It is already where your records live
- If your family's care happens almost entirely inside one Epic hospital, MyChart is free, already authenticated to you, and contains every document the hospital generates. Adding another tool may not be worth the friction. KeptWell shows up when a second provider, a paper record, an audio recording, or a non-Epic specialist enters the picture — until then, MyChart on its own may be plenty.
Other head-to-heads families have asked us about
KeptWell vs PicnicHealth
If what you really want is a record aggregator that also retrieves records from your providers on your behalf, the closer comparison is with PicnicHealth.
KeptWell vs CaringBridge
If you are also keeping friends and extended family in the loop, see how KeptWell sits next to CaringBridge — they do different jobs and most families use both.
What we will never do with your records
These promises apply to every KeptWell account, regardless of plan or price.
- We won't sell your data.
- Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to insurers, not to pharma, not to anyone, in any form, ever.
- We won't train AI models on your records.
- Anthropic (whose Claude model powers KeptWell) is contractually prohibited from training on anything we send them, under a signed Business Associate Agreement.
- We won't lock you in.
- You can export everything in your circle as a ZIP at any time. Cancellation is one click. Account deletion removes your data within 30 days.
Common questions
- Does KeptWell replace MyChart?
- No, and we are not trying to. MyChart does several things KeptWell will not do — clinical messaging with your care team, prescription refills, scheduling against the provider's calendar, real-time lab posting, bill pay. KeptWell sits above MyChart: it holds the records from every MyChart you have to log into, plus paper records, audio recordings, and anything from a non-Epic provider, all read by an AI in plain English.
- How do I get records out of MyChart into KeptWell?
- MyChart users can request a full record export through 'Manage My Record.' The export comes back as a PDF bundle (visit summaries, lab results, imaging reports) and a structured C-CDA file. Both work in KeptWell — drag the PDFs into a circle and the AI reads each one; the C-CDA file uploads alongside as a backup structured snapshot. There is no live API integration today; the export is done on your schedule.
- What about MyChart Central — does that change things?
- MyChart Central, live in all fifty states as of late 2025, lets one Epic ID link MyChart accounts across hospitals so you only log in once. It solves a real password-fatigue problem and is worth using if you have Epic charts at multiple hospitals. It does not unify what is inside the records, it does not include records accessed via proxy, and it does not pull in non-Epic providers or paper files. KeptWell unifies the contents; MyChart Central unifies the login.
- Is KeptWell HIPAA-covered the same way MyChart is?
- Both KeptWell and MyChart operate under HIPAA. KeptWell additionally publishes specific written commitments on our data practices page about what we will and will not do — including a written promise never to sell data, never to train AI on records, and a signed Business Associate Agreement with Anthropic that contractually prohibits training on anything we send to Claude. Hospital MyChart instances follow the policies of the hospital that runs them, which vary by hospital.
- Can the whole family see the same records in KeptWell?
- Yes — a care circle is one shared archive that holds every record for one patient, with as many invited members as the family needs. One person is the admin (manages uploads, members, permissions). Everyone else is a member (view, comment, ask the chat questions). Your own AI chat history and private notes stay private to you even inside a shared circle. There is no per-hospital proxy paperwork to sign.
- Where can I read the deeper alternatives page?
- The dedicated alternatives entry on MyChart covers more of the structural differences — including the family-access rules being challenged in court, the AI scope contrast with Epic Emmie, and the TEFCA interoperability picture. The link is at the top of this page.
See what your records look like when an AI has read every page
Export your MyChart record bundle, drag it into KeptWell, and watch it come back understood. Add the paper records from the other doctors. Free today, with a one-click export anytime.
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