OHFLAC

Complaints are investigated for all health care facilities regulated by OHFLAC regarding issues that fall under its jurisdiction. Complaints investigated cover concerns regarding quality of care provided, patient/resident/client rights, as well as building and equipment safety. Any suspicions of abuse, neglect, misappropriation of property or unsafe and/or unsanitary conditions in a health care facility should be reported.

Click here to view a list of health care facility types regulated by OHFLAC.
Click here to search for health care facilities regulated by OHFLAC.

Anyone with knowledge or concerns about a health care facility can file a complaint, including family members, concerned citizens and health care professionals.

Complaints may be filed anonymously. Note that as a matter of general procedure complaint investigators do not share the complainant's name with the health care facility unless otherwise instructed by the complainant; however, in some cases health care facility may be able to decipher the complainant's identity due to the nature of the complaint itself. When filing anonymously, be sure to provide sufficient information to enable OHFLAC to effectively investigate the complaint, since we cannot contact you for further information.

The following information should be included when filing a complaint:

• Who was involved?
• What happened?
• When it happened?
• How it happened
• Where it happened

To view a detailed list of questions click here.

The following methods can be used to file a complaint against a health care facility:

Online

Health Facility Complaint Form

Phone

Health Care Facility Complaints: (304) 558-0050
Home Health Hotline: (800) 442-2888

Fax

Fax health care facility complaints to:  (304) 558-2515
Please provide in subject line: [Health Care Facility Type]

Fax nurse aide complaints to:  (304) 558-1442

Mail

Written complaints against West Virginia health care facilities can be mailed to:

Attention: [Health Care Facility Type] Complaint Intake
Office of Health Facility Licensure & Certification
408 Leon Sullivan Way
Charleston, WV 25301-1713

To protect patient/resident/client confidentiality, please do not e-mail complaints.

OHFLAC will review complaints to determine whether the facts as alleged violate the law or regulations governing the facility. Complaints are then reviewed and prioritized based on actual or potential patient/resident/client harm. Depending on the nature of the complaint, the investigation is conducted either on-site at the health care facility or off-site.

Unless the complaint was filed anonymously the complainant will be notified of the outcome of the investigation when notification is requested. Health care facility investigations conducted by OHFLAC, statements of deficiencies, and plan of corrections can be viewed by using the facility lookup, found here.

After conducting an investigation the complaint allegations may or may not be substantiated based on the evidence gathered. If the findings indicidate that the facility is not in compliance with state licensure rules or federal certification regulations OHFLAC will cite deficient practices and the health care facility must correct the violation. If the deficient practices warrant enforcement actions the health care facility may incur license termination, a reduction of bed capacity, a ban on new admissions, temporary management, civil money penalties, or closure. Enforcement actions are based on regulatory authority for each facility type. If the facility contests the allegations, an informal dispute resolution hearing is conducted. OHFLAC’s decisions can be appealed and a formal hearing requested.

Please Note: Decisions are based on the information obtained during the investigation. The investigator may not find sufficient evidence that a regulatory violation had occurred regarding your specific concerns. These determinations do not minimize the importance of your expressed concerns, nor do they imply your concerns were not valid. It simply reflects the boundaries within which OHFLAC must investigate all complaints.