Maryland Facility or system Complaint Route

Authority and scope

Check the facility type and concern

OHCQ oversees regulated health facilities and community programs, including hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living, ambulatory surgery, home health, hospice and residential treatment categories. State licensing and CMS certification are different functions. For community mental health centers, OHCQ expressly limits its role to CMS certification and related complaint investigations; some service lines require a separate BHA license.

Supporting guidance: OHCQ programs and current unit contacts ↗OHCQ complaint report form, August 2016 ↗OHCQ current office and functions ↗Community Mental Health Centers ↗

Match the route to the facility type

OHCQ facilities and community programs

Shared OHCQ complaint intake for its regulated facilities/programs; community mental health center oversight is CMS-only.

Open this official route ↗

BHA behavioral programs—confirm route

Separate authority for behavioral services and specified mental-health program licenses; filing requirements remain unverified.

Open this official route ↗

Submission

Checked steps and filing details to confirm

OHCQ recommends its online complaint form, which routes the report to the responsible unit. Include supporting documents with the initial complaint. If online submission is impossible, the page permits its paper form by mail or fax.
The paper form asks for the patient/resident, facility/program and address, type of setting, witnesses, dates/times, people involved and what happened. It asks whether management has been notified, without stating that notification is required first.
The paper form permits telephone reporting using its questions as a guide. For current unit contact details, use OHCQ's Programs page rather than relying on every number printed in the old form.
Confirm the mailing/fax destination with OHCQ before sending a paper complaint. Its current homepage lists 7120 Samuel Morse Drive, Second Floor, Columbia, MD 21046-3422, while the linked form still gives the former Catonsville address.

Supporting guidance: OHCQ complaint instructions ↗OHCQ complaint report form, August 2016 ↗OHCQ programs and current unit contacts ↗OHCQ current office and functions ↗

Limits

What this route may not provide

Do not assume the OHCQ route covers all outpatient mental health or substance-use programs. BHA oversees inpatient and community behavioral services, but its distinct program complaint requirements were not established. OHCQ directs billing complaints elsewhere and individual licensed-professional complaints to the relevant professional board.

Supporting guidance: OHCQ complaint instructions ↗Community Mental Health Centers ↗Behavioral Health Administration ↗

Anonymity

Do not guess about confidentiality

OHCQ permits anonymous complaints, but warns identity may be revealed in a future hearing or trial. The paper form makes complainant details optional and asks permission to reveal identity during investigation. Contact information is needed to receive a resulting deficiency report; an anonymous report must be detailed enough for review without follow-up.

Supporting guidance: OHCQ complaint instructions ↗OHCQ complaint report form, August 2016 ↗

Complaint timing

No consumer filing deadline established.

A filing deadline was not established by this check; ask promptly. The complaint instructions describe triage but do not establish an investigation completion period. Facility construction notices and other provider deadlines are not patient complaint deadlines.

Supporting guidance: OHCQ complaint instructions ↗

Process

What may happen after filing

OHCQ triages and investigates complaints under applicable state and federal law. Its form contemplates a possible deficiency report. The separate BHA program investigation stages, consent requirements and potential outcomes remain unverified.

Supporting guidance: OHCQ complaint instructions ↗OHCQ complaint report form, August 2016 ↗

Evidence

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.