Health Dept

[wtf4527]

Does anyone know how to submit a complaint against health department surveyors?? We have a team that has issued our facility with an IJ tag two yrs in a row now when we have never had one in the 18yrs I have worked there. This particular team upset a family last year with the IJ tag and refused to talk to the family. We were able to prove the IJ tag was false and they lifted it. This year was the same thing but a family member took it upon themselves to barge in on the surveyor team and give them a piece of their mind as their loved one was on hospice care and actively dying. This family member was offended and very tearful that the surveyors implicated that their family member was not taken care of properly. The surveyors then accused staff of telling the family member this information even though it had not been shared with staff. This same team also said that a family member reported an incident to them that was never reported to us. We investigated and questioned staff to find out that it was not a case of abuse or neglect. They were satisfied with our findings and cleared us of that but then ten minutes later stated that the team determined that we were still in violation because we did not report the incident via the health department website even though they were present in the facility and the incident was initially reported to them. This all happened after their encounter with the upset family member and after our MD and NP challenged them. We are a good facility and take extra steps to be in compliance and provide exceptional care. Most of our residents and their families are related to staff or friends of staff or known in our small close community. We feel this particular team has a vendetta against us. HELP!!!

[NurseQT]

I don't know who you'd contact. I just wanted to say I know how you are feeling right now. I feel like our team of surveyors acted much on the same manor... We had upset families and providers because of the team's actions.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Every survey team has a manager back in the home office. You can contact this person by calling the agency and asking to talk to him/her. Make sure to document names, dates, times of the alleged misconduct before you make this call. Also document what was said in your discussion with the manager in case you need to go higher up the food chain.

You'll probably never know what (if anything) comes of it, but it's worth it to stand up for your facility and staff when the surveyors seem to have it out for you.

[alt_one]

Our state has multiple survey teams. Could you ask the health department manager for a different team? Several years ago we had an ex-employee get hired by the state. When she came to our facility for an inspection she was not professional. Got in everyone's face and was incredibly rude. We failed our inspection. Management called the state and asked that she not be allowed to inspect the facility again. They agreed and came back the next week and we passed the inspection.

[wtf4527]

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback. Haven't been able to get on here and reply. Yeah I'm not sure if administration is making a complaint or not. We currently have a consultant helping us with our plan of correction and even she says that the survey team was exceptionally brutal. Also--we found out that one evening one of the surveyors took our incident reports that they were reviewing with her when she left the facility for the day. That has never happened before either. I don't know if we can request a different team or not. It would be nice if the state health dept sent along an advocate for the facility during the survey process to kind of "referee". I think that should be a requirement. Hopefully we survive this. I don't know what our community will do if we don't.