Authority and scope
Check the facility type and concern
ADHS separates medical facilities, long-term care, assisted living and behavioral-health facilities. The current Licensing Services complaint landing page directs all four categories to AZ Care Check. The downstream application was not readable, so exact license coverage and filing requirements still need confirmation with ADHS.
Supporting guidance: Arizona: Public Health Licensing ↗Arizona: current complaint category selector ↗
Match the route to the facility type
Medical and long-term-care facilities
ADHS category selector links here; downstream fields, anonymity, authorization and submission were not verified.
Open this official route ↗Assisted living
ADHS category selector links here; downstream fields, anonymity, authorization and submission were not verified.
Open this official route ↗Behavioral residential facilities and sober living
ADHS category selector links here; downstream fields, anonymity, authorization and submission were not verified.
Open this official route ↗Confirm the filing instructions
- Open ADHS Licensing Services Online Complaint Forms and select the facility category. Medical, long-term care, behavioral health and assisted living currently lead to AZ Care Check. CMS lists 602-364-2536 for Arizona survey complaints.
- Before sending sensitive information, obtain the current instructions for the relevant facility type. The complaint entry is confirmed, but its actual fields, signatures, attachments and patient/representative authorization requirements remain unverified.
- Prepare the facility’s name, address, license type if known, the patient or resident involved, event dates and a concise factual account. Keep supporting copies and identify possible witnesses. Ask whether concerns about multiple locations require separate reports.
- If the online entry is unavailable, call the listed survey contact to request an accepted alternative. Do not assume that a licensing application portal, ordinary contact email or facility-search page also accepts consumer complaints. Ask how to obtain confirmation and add later evidence.
Supporting guidance: Arizona: current complaint category selector ↗CMS: Arizona survey contact ↗
What this route may not provide
A facility’s marketing name does not establish its license category. Distinguish a residential behavioral program from sober living, assisted living or a medical facility. The checked references do not establish the complaint office’s authority over every clinic, professional office or federally/tribally operated facility. Financial remedies and ordinary billing/insurance dispute handling were not established. Facility oversight is separate from an individual professional’s license.
Do not guess about confidentiality
Anonymous reporting, protection of the complainant’s identity, disclosure to the facility and public access to complaint records were not established. Request the facility complaint policy; a general website privacy statement does not answer these questions. Ask specifically about another person’s health records.
Ask promptly; filing deadline unverified
A filing deadline was not established by this check; ask promptly. No acknowledgment or investigation-completion period was verified. Reporting requirements imposed on a licensed facility should not be treated as the consumer’s deadline.
What may happen after filing
The verified pages identify licensing branches and the complaint entry. They do not establish the current screening, inspection, resolution or outcome-notification procedure. Ask the appropriate ADHS branch which standards it can review and how to follow up.
Prepare a reviewable submission
State the concern you want reviewed, give a short chronology and factual consequences, and explain your request. Keep supporting records and follow the receiving authority’s instructions before attaching or sending them.
Other facility processes to consider
These processes have different purposes. The national guidance below does not establish this state’s filing requirements or change the verification level shown above.
Hospital grievance
For hospitals covered by CMS hospital Conditions of Participation, ask for the grievance contact and written procedure. The hospital must specify response timeframes and give a written decision describing its contact, investigation, results and completion date. These are hospital rules, not a single rule for every facility. You may contact the responsible State Survey Agency without first completing the hospital process.
Supporting guidance: CMS: hospital grievance guidance ↗
State oversight
Match external oversight to the facility type and license. State Survey Agencies help CMS assess federal compliance; state licensing may cover different settings. Confirm jurisdiction rather than assuming one contact handles every clinic or residential program.
Supporting guidance: CMS: State Survey Agency contacts ↗
Medicare quality review and appeals
People with Medicare can ask their Medicare quality-review organization (BFCC-QIO) about eligible quality-of-care concerns. A complaint is different from a fast appeal when discharge or covered services may be ending too soon. Follow the Important Message from Medicare or Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage immediately; the notice identifies the contact and deadline. An inpatient-to-observation status change may also have a separate fast-appeal route; ask for its notice and current instructions. A routine grievance does not substitute for an appeal.
Supporting guidance: Medicare: fast appeals and BFCC-QIO help ↗
Long-term-care advocacy
Long-Term Care Ombudsmen advocate for residents of nursing homes, assisted living and similar residential settings. They help resolve concerns according to the resident’s wishes; they are not licensing enforcement. Identity disclosure generally requires informed consent, with court-order and specified incapacity exceptions. Ask how resident, representative and complainant consent applies.
Supporting guidance: ACL: Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program ↗45 CFR 1324: Long-Term Care Ombudsman rules ↗
National sources and scope
CMS: hospital grievance guidance ↗
Hospital participation scope and tags A-0118, A-0121–A-0123: written/verbal grievances, response policy, written decision and direct state-agency access. Relevant passages only; not a rule for every facility.
Source checked: September 30, 2026
CMS: State Survey Agency contacts ↗
Federal participation oversight and quality complaint directory; confirm facility-type jurisdiction and state licensing separately.
Source checked: September 30, 2026
Medicare: fast appeals and BFCC-QIO help ↗
Eligible care-ending/discharge and inpatient-to-observation status-change appeals, notice-specific timing and costs; separate quality-of-care help for Medicare-covered services. Current page text read.
Source checked: September 30, 2026
ACL: Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program ↗
Resident advocacy in nursing homes, assisted living, board-and-care and similar residential care; state-program locator.
Source checked: September 19, 2026
45 CFR 1324: Long-Term Care Ombudsman rules ↗
Sections 1324.11(e)(3) and 1324.19: resident direction, consent, complainant/resident identity protection, court orders and limited incapacity exceptions; distinct from regulatory enforcement. Current through September 17, 2026 when checked.
Source checked: September 19, 2026
Sources and scope
Some agency-linked forms and destinations could not be read. Source-check dates apply to the material listed below; they do not establish that every linked portal was inspected or a complaint submitted.
Arizona: Public Health Licensing ↗
Distinct facility licensing categories and shared online complaint link, including behavioral-health branch.
Source checked: September 19, 2026
CMS: Arizona survey contact ↗
Arizona complaint destination and telephone only.
Source checked: September 30, 2026
Arizona: current complaint category selector ↗
Landing page read directly: current medical/LTC/behavioral/assisted-living links to AZ Care Check; downstream form unreadable.
Source checked: September 30, 2026
Latest guide source check: September 30, 2026. Individual sources retain their own check dates. This records a review of the linked material, not a decision about your case. No clinical or legal reviewer is identified for this guide. Confirm current instructions with the receiving authority.