Other Facilities Complaint FAQs
- Patient abuse or neglect.
- Staff not available to provide care
- Failure to provide care
- Providing the wrong care
- Medication errors or mistakes
- Unsafe, unclean or dangerous areas in the facility
- Patient injuries or falls
- Not following medical orders
- Improperly prepared food
- Not responding to a patient complaint
- Fee or payment disputes between you and your health care facility.
- Health care facilities not regulated by Department Of Health (DOH). For instance nursing homes and boarding
homes regulated by the Department of Social and Health Services
- Disability compensation or insurance reimbursement claims or disagreements.
- Rudeness or inappropriate behavior by a health care facility staff member.
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The legislature authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH) to regulate
health care facilities that violate the law. We developed processes for
receiving, investigating, reporting findings and determining appropriate
actions. The law allows us to deny, modify a health care facility's license,
Contact the health care facility, your insurance company or the State Insurance
Commissioner's Office.
Contact the health care facility administration and ask to about making a complaint
about how individual staff treated you. Each facility has a person assigned
to respond to and review these types of patient concerns. Actions or
behaviors that mislead, harm or are of a sexual nature should be reported to
the department.
No, anyone having knowledge about a violation in a health care facility can make a
complaint: family member, friend, facility staff member, physician.
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We may contact you for additional or clarifying information, either by letter or interview.
We may ask you to testify or provide a written document if a formal hearing
is necessary.
The time will vary depending on the nature of the complaint and the complexity of the
case. Investigations may take as little as a few weeks or, in some cases, up
to 6 months or more. We spend as much time as necessary to thoroughly
investigate each complaint. We ask your patience as we deal with the many
legal and health issues involved.
No. A person who files a compliant in good faith is immune from suit in any civil action
related to the filing or contents of the complaint.
No. There is no statutory time limit for filing a complaint. Our experience is after 12 to
18 months staff change, specific details are more difficult to recall and
information necessary to review is no longer be available at the health care
facility. The lack of information and involved staff to interview, we may
not ne able to confirm whether a violation occurred.
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You can do both, this is your decision. You may seek legal advice about a malpractice
action and file a report with the department at the same time.
Yes, we do not need a name when conducting an investigation. Our practice is not to tell
the facility the name of the complainant. This effectively keeps the
complainant anonymous. However, our investigation reports and findings are
publically available and may be required to disclose the complainant name at
that time.
Under some circumstances, we can require a health care facility to pay a fine as a
result of our findings. We do not have jurisdiction over individual
compensation. You need to seek legal advice about that.
No. the department does not have the authority to invoke or enforce criminal or
civil penalties. Our authority is limited to taking action against a health
care facility license. We can deny, modify or suspend a license which can
result in the facility having to close.
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Yes. The one exception is that a hospital can not deny anyone access to emergency care.
The hospital must, at a minimum assess everyone who comes to the emergency
department and if they can not provide the necessary care themselves must
transport the patient to a hospital that can give the needed care.
Failing to cooperate with an investigation is a violation of the law. The Department
can take action to deny, modify or suspend the license.
No, but a health care facility may charge a copying fee before giving you the records.
The facility cannot withhold records because you have an outstanding balance
on your account.
We do not give details about an ongoing investigation, but you can call to receive an
update on the general status of your complaint. We have set limits as to how
long a complaint can take in each step of the investigation process. Due to
the legal and medical issues involved, our investigation process can be
lengthy and we appreciate your patience
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