Patient Portal
Careers
Contact

Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

Effective Date: February 16, 2026

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information, to provide individuals with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information, and to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured protected health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice while it is in effect. This notice takes effect February 16, 2026, and will remain in effect until we replace it.

We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this Notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law, and to make new Notice provisions effective for all protected health information that we maintain. When we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and post the Notice clearly and prominently at our practice location, and we will provide copies of the new Notice upon request. You may request a copy of our Notice at any time.

Who Will Follow This Notice

This notice describes the information privacy practices followed by our employees, students, and volunteers of Muskegon Family Care.

Our Pledge

We understand that health information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting health information about you. We create a record of the care and services you receive at Muskegon Family Care. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all the records of your care generated or otherwise maintained by Muskegon Family Care, whether made by hospital personnel, your personal doctor, a consulting or other treating doctor, a diagnostic facility or any Muskegon Family Care facility or support personnel.

How We May Use and Disclose Health Information

We may use and disclose your health information for different purposes, including treatment, payment, and health care operations for each of these categories, we have provided a description and an example. Some information, such as HIV-related information, genetic information, alcohol and/or substance use disorder treatment records, and mental health records may be entitled to special confidentiality protections under applicable state or federal law. We will abide by these special protections as they pertain to applicable cases involving these types of records.

  • For Treatment: We may use and disclose your health information for your treatment and to provide you with treatment related health care services. For example, we may disclose health information to a specialist providing treatment to you.
  • For Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain reimbursement for the treatment and services you receive from us or another entity involved with your care. Payment activities include billing, collections, claims management, and determinations or eligibility and coverage to obtain payment from you, an insurance company, or another third party. For example, we may send claims to your medical or dental health plan containing certain health information.
  • For Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. For example, healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, conducting training programs, and licensing activities.
  • Appointment Reminders, Treatment Alternatives and Health Related Benefits and Services: We may use and disclose your health information to contact you to remind you that you have an appointment with us. We also may use and disclose health information to tell you about treatment alternatives or health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
  • Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: When appropriate, we may share your health information with an individual identified by you who is involved in your medical/dental care or payment for your care, such as your family or a close friend. Additionally, we may disclose information about you to a patient representative. If a person has the authority by law to make health care decisions for you, we will treat that patient representative the same way we would treat you with respect to your health information. We also may notify your family about your location or general condition or disclose such information to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort.
  • Research: We may disclose your PHI to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board or privacy board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your information.

Special Situations

  • As Required By Law: We may disclose your health information when required to do so by federal, state or local law.
  • To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may use and disclose your health information when necessary to prevent serious threats to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Disclosures, however, will be made only to someone who may be able to help prevent the threat.
  • Business Associates: We may disclose your health information to our business associates that perform functions on our behalf or provide us with services if the information is necessary for such functions or services. For example, we may use another company to perform billing services on our behalf. All of our business associates are obligated to protect the privacy of your information and are not allowed to use or disclose any information other than as specified in our contract.
  • Organ and Tissue Donation: If you are an organ donor, we may use or release your health information to organizations that handle organ procurement or other entities engaged in procurement, banking or transportation of organs, eyes or tissues to facilitate organ, eye or tissue donation and transplantation.
  • Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release your health information as required by military command authorities. We also may release your health information to the appropriate foreign military authority if you are a member of a foreign military.
  • Workers’ Compensation: We may release your health information for workers’ compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses.
  • Public Health Risks: We may disclose your health information for public health activities. These activities generally include disclosures to prevent or control disease, injury or disability; report births and deaths; report child abuse or neglect; report reactions to medications or problems with products or devices; notify a person of a recall, repair, or replacement of products or devises; a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition; and the appropriate governments authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law.
  • Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include audits, investigations, inspections, and credentialing, as necessary for licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.
  • Data Breach Notification Purposes: We may use or disclose your health information to provide legally required notices of unauthorized access to or disclosure of your health information.
  • Lawsuits and Disputes: If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose your health information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We also may disclose your health information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
  • Law Enforcement: We may release your health information if asked by a law enforcement official if the information is: (1) In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process; (2) limited information to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; (3) about the victim of a crime even if, under certain very limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s agreement; (4) about a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct; (5) about criminal conduct on our premises; and (6) in an emergency to report a crime; the location of the crime or victims, or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.
  • Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors: We may release your health information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We also may release your health information to funeral directors as necessary for their duties.
  • National Security and Intelligence Activities: We may release your health information to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counter-intelligence and other national security activities authorized by law.
  • Protective Services for the President and Others: We may disclose health information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or conduct special investigations.
  • Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release your health information to the correctional institution or law enforcement official. This release would be necessary (1) for the institution to provide you with health care; (2) to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or (3) for the safety and security of the correctional institution.
  • SUD Treatment Information: If we receive or maintain any information about you from a substance use disorder treatment program that is covered by 42 CFR part 2 (a “Part 2 Program”) through a general consent you provide to the Part 2 Program to use and disclose health care operations, we may use and disclose your Part 2 Program record for treatment, payment and health care operations purposes as described in this Notice. If we receive or maintain your Part 2 Program record through specific consent you provide to us or another third party, we will use and disclose your Part 2 Program record only as expressly permitted by you in your consent as provided to us. In no event will we use or disclose your Part 2 Program record, or testimony that describes the information contained in your Part 2 Program record, in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceeding y any Federal, State or local authority, against you, unless authorization by your consent or the order of a court after it provides you notice of the court order.

Uses and Disclosures That Require Us to Give You an Opportunity to Object and Opt Out Through a Written Request to Muskegon Family Care

  • Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: Unless you object, we may disclose to a member of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other person you identify, your Protected Health Information that directly relates to that person’s involvement in your health care. If you are unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may disclose such information as necessary if we determine that it is in your best interest based on our professional judgment.
  • Fundraising: Unless you object, we may use certain non-medical/dental information (including but not limited to name, address, telephone number, dates of service, age and gender) to contact you in the future to raise money for Muskegon Family Care affiliates through a foundation owned or controlled by Muskegon Family Care.
  • Disaster Relief: We may disclose your Protected Health Information to disaster relief organizations that seek your Protected Health Information to coordinate your care or notify family and friends of your location or condition in a disaster. We will provide you with an opportunity to agree or object to such a disclosure whenever we practically can do so.

Your Written Authorization is Required for Other Uses and Disclosures

The following uses and disclosures of your Protected Health information will be made only with your written authorization:

  1. Uses and disclosures of Protected Health Information for marketing purposes;
  2. Disclosures that constitute a sale of your Protected Health Information;
  3. Disclosures of psychotherapy notes; and
  4. Michigan Dental Patient Consent Law requires Muskegon Family Care to obtain your written consent prior to making certain disclosures of your dental information.

Other uses and disclosures of Protected Health Information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written authorization. If you do give us an authorization, you may revoke it at any time by submitting a written revocation to Muskegon Family Care and we will no longer disclose Protected Health Information under the Authorization. But disclosure that we made in reliance on your authorization before you revoked it will not be affected by the revocation.

Your Health Information Rights

You have the following rights regarding health information we have about you.

  • Right to Inspect and Copy: You have a right to look at or get copies of your health information that may be used to make decisions about your care or payment for your care. This includes medical, dental, and billing records, other than psychotherapy notes. To inspect and copy this Protected Health Information, you must make your request, in writing, to Muskegon Family Care. We have up to 30 days to make your Protected Health Information available to you and we may charge you a reasonable fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request. We may not charge you a fee if you need the information for a claim for benefits under the Social Security Act or any other state or federal need-based benefit program. We may deny your request in certain limited circumstances. If we do deny your request, you have the right to have the denial reviewed by a licensed healthcare professional who was not directly involved in the denial of your request, and we will comply with the outcome of the review.
  • Right to an Electronic Copy of Electronic Medical Records: If your Protected Health Information is maintained in an electronic format (known as an electronic medical record or an electronic health record), you have the right to request that an electronic copy of your record be given to you or transmitted to another individual or entity. We will make every effort to provide access to your Protected Health Information in the form or format you request, if it is readily producible in such form or format. If the Protected Health Information is not readily producible in the form or format you request your record will be provided in either our standard electronic format or if you do not want this form or format, a readable hard copy form.
  • Right to Get Notice of a Breach: You will receive notifications of breaches of your unsecured protected health information as required by law.
  • Right to Amend: You have the right to request that we amend your health information. Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended. We may deny your request under certain circumstances. If we agree to your request, we will amend your record(s) and notify you of such, if we deny your request for an amendment, we will provide you with a written explanation of why we denied it and explain your rights.
  • Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: With the exception of certain disclosures, you have the right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. To request an accounting of disclosures of your health information, you must submit your request in writing. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to the additional requests.
  • Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your PHI by submitting a written request. Your written request must include (1) what information you want to limit, (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both, and (3) to whom you want to limit to apply. We are not required to agree to your request except in the case where the disclosure is to a health plan for purposes of carrying our payment or health care operations, and the information pertains solely to a health care item or service for which you, or a person on your behalf (other than the health plan), has paid our practice in full.
  • Out-of-pocket-Payments: If you paid out-of-pocket (or in other words, you have requested that we not bill your health plan) in full for a specific item or service, you have the right to ask that your Protected Health Information with respect to that item or service not be disclosed to a health plan for purposes of payment or health care operations, and we will honor that request.
  • Alternative Communication: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. You must make your request in writing. Your request must specify the alternative means or locations and provide satisfactory explanation of how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. However, if we are unable to contact you using the ways or locations you have requested, we may contact you using the information we have.
  • Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice: You have the right to a paper copy of this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this notice. You may obtain a copy of this notice at our website, www.mfc-health.org. To obtain a paper copy of this notice please visit Muskegon Family Care at 2201 S. Getty St., Muskegon Heights, MI 49444 or call 231-739-9315.

Changes To This Notice

We reserve the right to change this Notice and make the new notice apply to Protected Health Information we already have as well as any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of our current notice at our office and copies will be available to you. The Notice will contain the effective date and the revised date on the first page, in the top right-hand corner.

Questions and Complaints

If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact us.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with our Privacy Officer, 2201 S. Getty St., Muskegon Heights, MI 49444 (231) 733-4800 or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Independence Ave., S.W., Washington D.C. 20201, 1-866-627-7748. All complaints must be made in writing. You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.

PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.

If you have any questions about this Notice, please contact the Privacy Officer for Muskegon Family Care at 2201 S. Getty Street, Muskegon Heights, MI 49444 (231) 733-4800, ext. 1640.