New York Facility or system Complaint Route

Authority and scope

Check the facility type and concern

DOH has separate intakes for hospitals/diagnostic and treatment centers, nursing homes, and adult care/assisted living. Psychiatric care in OMH-regulated units and detoxification care in OASAS-regulated units use separate agencies. Confirm which unit provided the care; a hospital address alone does not resolve jurisdiction.

Supporting guidance: DOH hospital complaint form and instructions ↗DOH nursing-home complaint instructions ↗DOH adult-care and assisted-living form ↗

Match the route to the facility type

DOH hospitals and diagnostic/treatment centers

Hospital, ambulatory surgery, dialysis and licensed primary-care clinics; home-care/hospice filing remains unverified.

Open this official route ↗

DOH nursing homes

Nursing-home resident care and regulatory complaints; separate from assisted living.

Open this official route ↗

DOH adult care and assisted living

Adult care facilities and assisted living programs.

Open this official route ↗

OMH psychiatric facilities and units

Separate psychiatric-care route identified by DOH; full filing requirements unverified.

Open this official route ↗

OASAS addiction facilities and units

Separate detoxification-care route identified by DOH; broader addiction-program instructions unverified.

Open this official route ↗

Submission

Checked steps and filing details to confirm

Hospitals: submit the written online form or print and mail to Centralized Hospital Intake Program, Mailstop CA/DCS, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12237. Call 800-804-5447 for filing assistance. Do not attach medical records or other additional materials; this intake expressly asks you not to.
Nursing homes: use the separate online form, call 888-201-4563, fax 518-408-1157, or email nhintake@health.ny.gov. Include supporting copies, not originals. A family/group should designate one filer to receive correspondence.
Adult care/assisted living: use its separate online form or the nursing-home page’s referral number, 866-893-6772. Provide resident/current-location and facility/room details, incident dates, prior facility contacts, law-enforcement involvement and the complaint narrative. Representative-release requirements were not established.

Supporting guidance: DOH hospital complaint form and instructions ↗DOH nursing-home complaint instructions ↗DOH adult-care and assisted-living form ↗

Limits

What this route may not provide

The hospital intake excludes ordinary billing, with stated financial-assistance and sexual-assault-examination exceptions, and complaints solely about a private-practice physician or staff attitude. This guide does not establish home-care/hospice intake or complete OMH/OASAS requirements.

Supporting guidance: DOH hospital complaint form and instructions ↗

Anonymity

Do not guess about confidentiality

All three DOH forms offer anonymity. Nursing-home and adult-care forms warn that the complaint, resident name or your name may otherwise need to be shared with the facility. Adult-care anonymity means no follow-up. The hospital form states a confidentiality policy but may share the complaint’s substance or patient name. OMH/OASAS rules remain unverified. Nursing-home intake also restricts disclosure of protected patient information under HIPAA.

Supporting guidance: DOH hospital complaint form and instructions ↗DOH nursing-home complaint instructions ↗DOH adult-care and assisted-living form ↗

Complaint timing

Nursing-home complaints: occurrence within the past year. Hospitals: generally only past-year issues considered.

These are separate DOH intake statements; do not transfer them to adult care, OMH or OASAS. A filing deadline for those routes was not established by this check; ask promptly.

Supporting guidance: DOH hospital complaint form and instructions ↗DOH nursing-home complaint instructions ↗

Process

What may happen after filing

Hospital clinical staff screen complaints and give a written review outcome; not every complaint is investigated. Nursing-home intake reviews submissions and acknowledges identified filers by letter. No guaranteed investigation completion time was established.

Supporting guidance: DOH hospital complaint form and instructions ↗DOH nursing-home complaint instructions ↗

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.