What is DA Form 4700? It is the Department of the Army form titled MEDICAL RECORD - SUPPLEMENTAL MEDICAL DATA, and it exists so that you can medical record - supplemental medical data. That single line covers most of what people arrive looking for. The rest of this page fills in the details.
Am I looking at the right edition? The copy here carries the date 02/01/2003 and the status ACTIVE. Forms in the DA series are identified by edition date rather than by revision number, so that date is what you compare against.
Do I fill this in myself? Usually yes, unless an administrative office keeps the record for you, in which case they enter what you supply. The form itself belongs to TSG and is prescribed by AR 40-66. It runs to 1 page(s) and about 61 fields.
What the form asks for
- ContentArea1
- DATE
- DEPT
- DIAGNOSTIC
- EXAMEVAL
- FLOWCHRT
- HISTORY
- MEDDATA
- OTHER1
- OTHRSPEC
- OTSGAPPRV
- PATIENT1
- PREPBY
- Page1
- R53
- R54
- R55
- R56
- R57
- R58
- R59
- R60
- R61
- REPORTTTL
Download the form
What can I download here? The formats available are PDF, XFDL. Each one reproduces the identical official layout. What separates them is the method of entry, nothing on the page itself.
Should I take the fillable pdf or the printable one? Take the fillable version if you will type, since its entry areas respond to the keyboard and hold what you enter. Take the printable version if you will write by hand — it is the same blank form as a flat page image. The finished result looks the same either way.
Do I need special software? Not for reading — a pdf opens in the browser you already have. For filling, install a full pdf reader rather than trusting the in-browser viewer, which sometimes displays fields it cannot save. Type into one field, save, reopen and confirm the text survived. Why will my xfdl file not open? Because it is IBM Lotus Forms, not pdf. The Lotus Forms Viewer is the only application that reads it.
Does the download cost anything? No. There is no charge, no account and no email address to surrender, and the file you receive is the published document with nothing added to it.
Where do you start? At the top of the page, with the identifying entries: name as your official records spell it, identification number, unit or organisation, date of preparation. Why first? Because those entries are what the form is filed and searched under later, and a record indexed on a misspelled name is a record nobody retrieves.
How should you work through the entry fields? With the tab key. It follows the order the form was constructed in, which is usually the order the page reads, so nothing gets passed over. Do check boxes work the same way? They are clicked rather than tabbed into. In an exclusive group, a second click elsewhere clears your first choice, as intended.
What happens if your answer is too long for the field? It prints cut off. A single-line field does not wrap, so text running past the edge stays readable on screen and then disappears at the margin on paper. What do you do instead? Move it to the remarks area or onto a continuation sheet. And a field that does not apply to you? Mark it as not applicable rather than leaving it blank — an empty box tells the reviewer nothing about whether you read the question.
Where does the signature belong in the sequence? At the very end, by hand or by an accepted electronic means. An unsigned form is a draft regardless of how full it is. Are countersignatures needed? Where the form provides for them — reviewing official, approving authority, witness — taken in printed order and dated on the day applied. What should you check before releasing it? Empty mandatory fields, digit transposition in identification numbers, day-month inversion in dates, and residue from an old copy used in place of a blank one.
What is the Privacy Act statement on the page? A notice appearing wherever personal information is collected, setting out the authority for the collection, the purpose, the routine uses, and whether your disclosure is mandatory or voluntary. When should you read it? At the point you reach it, before entering the details it covers. And afterwards? Your completed copy holds personal data and is stored and transmitted under the rules that apply to such records.
What happens after signing? The form is routed as the prescribing directive requires: to a named office, through the unit administrative channel, or into the personal file. Do you get the original back? No, so make a copy first. Who sets the retention period? The applicable records schedule, not the office holding the document.
Which other forms travel with this one? Those found by series and number: DA series documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive are frequently needed in combination, and a form referenced on the face of another generally accompanies it. Do you assemble them before or after sending? Before. Continuation sheets, cover sheets and transmittals are part of the same package.
When is an edition replaced? When the proponent revises the form and publishes a new edition date. What should you do with a copy kept on your own machine? Check its date against the edition in force before reusing it. Does the change reach backwards? It does not; work already completed on an earlier edition remains valid as filed.
What exactly is this site? A place to download reproductions of published Department of the Army documents. Is it part of the Department of the Army? No — it is independent, issues no forms of its own, and has no authority over any of them. Can it tell you whether your completed form will be accepted? It cannot, and nothing written here is legal advice. Who answers the real questions? TSG or the administrative office servicing your unit, on any question of entry, requirement or eligibility.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 4700?
- MEDICAL RECORD - SUPPLEMENTAL MEDICAL DATA
- Which edition is current?
- 02/01/2003
- Who is responsible for this form?
- TSG
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- 42-ITEM ONLY PRODUCED IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA,