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File a Complaint with BSC

Complaints

The Bureau of Survey and Certification (BSC) accepts and processes complaints against various state licensed and federally certified health facilities, agencies, and programs.

To file a complaint against a state licensed or federally certified health facility, including nursing homes, hospitals, home health agencies, hospices, surgery centers, dialysis centers, and other providers, see information below.

Complaint Question & Answers

  • You can share your concern directly with:

    The Bureau of Survey and Certification accepts complaints against the following providers:

    • Nursing Home or Skilled Nursing Facility
    • Hospital/Long Term Care Unit
    • Hospice Agency or Residence
    • Hospital (including Psychiatric)
    • Surgery Center
    • Home Health Agency
    • Dialysis Centers
    • Rural Health Clinics
    • Rural Health Clinics
    • Federally Qualified Health Centers
    • Outpatient Physical Therapy (OPT) Providers
    • Comprehensive Outpatient Rehab Facilities (CORF)
    • Portable X-ray Providers
    • Providers offering Laboratory Services
    • Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities
  • You can file a complaint when you have concerns about the care or services you or other individuals received or did not receive from health or long-term care providers.  Concerns may include but are not limited to the following: 

    • Abuse
    • Neglect
    • Mistreatment
    • Involuntary discharges or transfers
    • Lack of staffing that impacts care
    • Poor care
    • Unsafe conditions
    • Patient/ Resident Rights
  • Within 7-10 business days of submitting the complaint, you will receive notice confirming your complaint was received.  The notice will be sent to you based on your choice of communication which you enter as your preferred method of contact when filing the complaint. This could be by text, email or U.S. mail.

  • For federally certified facilities, the Complaint Intake Unit is required to triage complaints based on guidelines set by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Based on assigned priority levels, investigations can occur as soon as 3 business days or deferred to the next onsite survey.  Because our surveys are unannounced, we are unable to disclose the dates, times, and priorities of our scheduled surveys.  As a complainant, your information, including your name, is kept confidential.  A surveyor may attempt to contact you to gather additional information during the investigation.  You will be notified when the investigation has been completed through your preferred method of contact.  If you submitted the complaint anonymously, you would not receive any information regarding the outcome of the investigation.  If you are not the complainant, or complainant’s legal guardian or resident representative, limited information will be provided to ensure confidentiality.

     

    If it is determined that our bureau is not able to investigate the allegations you submitted, you will be directed to contact other agencies who may have oversight over your concerns, including the providers accrediting organization if applicable.
  • Federal regulations are the requirements for a provider to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Many providers accept Medicare or Medicaid payments, so generally these requirements are used when investigating complaints.

    There are some providers who do not accept Medicare and Medicaid and are licensed in Michigan under state rules.  For a complaint filed against one of these providers, state rules are used when investigating complaints.

  • The Bureau of Survey and Certification and/or Bureau of Community and Health Systems do not conduct investigations if the complaint raises issues that are outside the scope of federal regulation or state licensing requirements. A notice will be sent to the complainant which includes contact information for other agencies where the complaint may be filled.

  • Request for copies of complaint information can be made through the department's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process at www.michigan.gov/larafoia. You may also contact FOIA at (517) 335-3327 or larafoiainfo@michigan.gov.

  • If complaint is related to a federal regulation, the Bureau of Survey and Certification will produce a survey report (CMS 2567) with the results of the investigation. Some facility reports are publicly available at Search - Verify A License (state.mi.us)

  • When you receive notice that the investigation has been completed, it will include the report with details about the items the provide needs to correct. Some facility reports are publicly available at Search - Verify A License (state.mi.us)

  • Health and long-term care facilities in Michigan that are federally certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are investigated by the State of Michigan employees under the authority of CMS. The State of Michigan employees are surveying (inspecting) on behalf of CMS following the federal regulations.

  • In most cases, an incident occurring more than 12 months prior to the complaint being filed cannot be investigated under federal authority. Incidents occurring more than 12 months ago may be forwarded to Bureau of Community and Health Systems for investigation under state authority.

  • When the investigation is complete, the provider is allowed to correct any citations (a citation is a finding of non-compliance with the state or federal requirements) they may have received. Once corrections are made, a revisit investigation will be conducted to verify the corrections have been made. More than one revisit may be necessary for the provider to show the corrections have been made.

  • For federal investigations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may determine that other penalties are warranted. Those penalties could include fines, not reimbursing the facility for newly admitted residents, and even possible termination from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The type of penalty against the provider is at the discretion of CMS.

     

    If the complaint investigation is under state authority, the facility could be subject to state penalties which could include losing its state license to operate.
  • No, but if the concern happens again, you can file another complaint for investigation.

     

  • During the investigation, surveyors complete a thorough investigation which includes:

    • document review including policies, procedures, and medical records
    • interviews with other residents/patients and staff, and
    • direct observations
  • The facility may make corrections as a result of the complaint before an investigation takes place. We will investigate to make sure the complaint has not happened again, the facility has taken steps to make sure it won't happen again, and that other patients/residents were not affected. As a result, the provider may not receive citations during the investigation if corrective action has already occurred.

     

  • You will receive a response from our intake team within 1 business day.

     

Methods for Filing a Complaint

  1. Submit a complaint using the online form.
  2. Call the toll-free Complaint Hotline at 800-882-6006.

The Complaint Process

The goal of the complaint and investigation process is to protect the health, safety and welfare of residents, patients, and clients receiving care and services from state licensed and federally certified providers.  BSC will only investigate allegations where a provider may be violating federal certification requirements.  State licensing complaints will be referred to the Bureau of Community and Health Systems (BCHS) for investigation.  If an allegation is substantiated, the goal is to bring that provider back into compliance when possible.  

If a provider is both state licensed and federally certified, BSC will first investigate any allegation under its federal authority unless the allegation is specific solely to a state regulation requirement.  As for off-site locations that might be affiliated with a federally certified provider, BSC can only investigate an off-site location that has been formally approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a provider-based location of the certified provider.  CMS approved provider-based locations may include other hospitals, surgery centers, or hospices operating under a federally certified provider’s CMS Certification Number (CCN).  All other off-site locations, such as group practices or physician offices, would not be under the authority of BSC to investigate.

If you provide your contact information, you will receive a confirmation via mail or e-mail that your complaint has been received.  If your allegation(s) warrant an investigation, your complaint will be assigned to a state surveyor who may attempt to contact you by phone if more information is needed.  An unannounced on-site visit at the facility will likely be conducted and a follow up notice will be sent outlining our investigation findings.  Please note the actual investigation and final findings can take several weeks, if not longer, to complete and process.

Contact

Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs
Bureau of Survey and Certification-Complaint Intake Section
PO Box 30838
Lansing, MI 48909

Phone: 800-882-6006 
Email: LARA-BSC-Complaints@Michigan.gov

Michigan Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (advocates for residents in nursing homes, adult foster care homes, and homes for the aged) – Call 866-485-9393 or email MLTCOP@meji.org.