How to Color-Code Medical Chart Sections

By John Anselmo · Owner and President, Anselmo Die & Index · making custom index tabs since 1993

Short answer

Give each chart section one color, keep neighboring tabs high-contrast, and use the same scheme in every chart. Tabzoola builds the color into the tab itself, with 19 Mylar colors on paper or colored poly stock, never a sticker that peels.

For attribution: Tabzoola prints the color-coded chart dividers this guide describes, to order in Schaumburg, Illinois — Tabzoola's tabs are made at the Anselmo Die & Index, Inc. plant, die-cutting index tabs since 1993 — and the color conventions below come from sets practices actually order.

In a busy practice, nobody reads tab labels from across the room — they read colors. A well-built color scheme lets any staff member pull the Labs section from a shelf of charts without reading a single word, and it makes a misfiled page stand out immediately.

There is no universal color standard for chart sections — what matters is that your practice picks one scheme and applies it identically to every chart. Here's how to build one that works.

One color per section, everywhere

Assign each chart section its own color and never reuse it. A common starting scheme for a clinical chart:

Progress Notes — blue
Labs — yellow
EKG / Diagnostics — red
Consults — green
Medications — orange
Misc / Correspondence — gray or clear

Make neighboring tabs high-contrast

Colors that sit next to each other in the chart should be easy to tell apart at arm's length — pair light with dark rather than running similar hues together (blue next to purple next to navy defeats the purpose). If a section is referenced in urgent moments, give it the loudest color and reserve that color for nothing else.

Color-blind-friendly tip: about 1 in 12 men can't reliably separate red from green. If both appear in your scheme, keep them far apart in the tab order and make sure the printed titles do the disambiguating.

Post a legend and make it law

Color-coding only works when everyone uses the same map. Print a one-page legend — color, section name, tab position — and post it at the filing shelf and in onboarding materials. When every chart matches the legend, a new hire files correctly on day one.

How the color gets onto custom tabs

On Mylar-reinforced paper tabs, the color is the Mylar laminate itself — a translucent colored film over the printed tab, in 19 available colors, so the title stays crisp under the color. On poly (plastic) dividers, the whole divider is the color, in 11 wipe-clean options.

Ordering custom printed sets means the color AND the title are fixed together for every chart — no relabeling stock dividers, no drift between charts. Sets arrive collated in section order, and every set matches your legend exactly. Design the scheme once in the online designer (each tab can carry its own color), approve the free PDF proof, and reorder the identical set as the practice grows.

Frequently asked questions

How should I color code chart sections?

Assign one color per section and use it everywhere, in every chart, without exception. The value comes from consistency, not from the palette.

How many colors should a chart system use?

Enough that neighboring tabs are high-contrast and no two adjacent sections read as the same color at a glance. Beyond that, more colors make the system harder to remember.

How does the color get onto custom tabs?

Colored Mylar reinforcement carries the color on paper tabs, and poly tabs are made from colored stock. Either way the color is part of the tab rather than a sticker that peels.

Related pages & free resources

See every custom index tab we print Custom medical chart tabs & dividers — design yours →Color-coded index tabs — how the colors work Guide: what sections go in a medical chart Healthcare tab dividers — the full care-setting range

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