How to request your medical records in Michigan
You have a federal right to a copy of your own medical records, in Michigan and everywhere else. Below is how that right works, what Michigan adds on top of it, and a free letter you can fill out and send.
Your federal right (applies in every state)
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 164.524), you can get a copy of your own medical records without giving a reason. A provider must act on your request within 30 days, can take one 30-day extension only with written notice, and can charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee for copying and postage.
What Michigan adds
- Copy fees
- A provider may not charge you the standard initial fee for your own record; otherwise the cap is tiered per-page (about $1.00 per page for the first 20 pages, 50 cents for pages 21–50, 20 cents after), plus actual postage and the actual cost of retrieving records 7+ years old kept off-site. All amounts are adjusted annually for inflation.
- Worth knowing
- The waiver of the initial fee applies only when you request your own record; an authorized representative such as an attorney or insurer can still be charged it.
- The law
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.26269 (Medical Records Access Act)
When Michigan law and the federal HIPAA rule differ, the one that gives you more access — faster turnaround, lower fee — is the one that applies. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm specifics with your provider's records office.
Your Michigan records-request letter
Requesting records in Michigan — common questions
- How do I request my medical records in Michigan?
- Under your federal right of access (HIPAA, 45 CFR § 164.524), you can get a copy of your own records from any provider in Michigan. Send a written request — the free letter on this page works — to the provider's Health Information Management or Release of Information office, or use their patient portal if they have one.
- How much can a provider in Michigan charge for copies of my records?
- A provider may not charge you the standard initial fee for your own record; otherwise the cap is tiered per-page (about $1.00 per page for the first 20 pages, 50 cents for pages 21–50, 20 cents after), plus actual postage and the actual cost of retrieving records 7+ years old kept off-site. All amounts are adjusted annually for inflation. HIPAA separately caps any fee at a reasonable, cost-based charge for the labor of copying and the postage — whichever protects you more applies.
- Is this records-request letter free?
- Yes. The generator builds a HIPAA records-request letter you can download and print for free. Nothing you type is saved or sent to anyone but you.
Records rules in another state?
What we will never do with your records
This generator runs without an account, and KeptWell itself makes the same promises to every family, 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.
Once your Michigan records arrive, give them a home.
They usually come back as a stack of PDFs or a disc. Upload them to KeptWell and it reads each one, organizes everything by type and date, and lets your whole family ask questions about it. The medical record organizer that does the organizing. Free today.
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More on the product: how it works, the medical record organizer, pricing, and what we do with your data.