North Carolina Facility or system Complaint Route

Authority and scope

Check the facility type and concern

DHSR receives concerns about care and services in its licensed facilities: hospitals and psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, adult care homes, ambulatory surgery and specified outpatient facilities, home care, home health, hospice, mental health group homes, other 24-hour programs, and outpatient or day treatment facilities. Identify the licensed program; an ordinary office or urgent care practice should not automatically be treated as one of these facilities.

Supporting guidance: DHSR complaint intake scope and contacts ↗

Match the route to the facility type

DHSR facility complaint intake

Licensed hospitals, nursing homes, surgery/outpatient settings, home care/home health/hospice, adult care homes and listed mental health/residential/day programs. Adult care home investigations go to local social services.

Open this official route ↗

Submission

How the official source says to file

Call 800-624-3004 within North Carolina or 919-855-4500. Hotline hours are weekdays, excluding holidays, 9 a.m.–noon and 1–4 p.m. Written complaints may be faxed to 919-715-7724 or mailed to Complaint Intake Unit, 2711 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-2711. The instructions also provide an email link; include a callback number for written submissions.
The optional complaint form asks for the facility name/address; patient or resident name, birth date, room, admission/discharge dates and current location; your relationship and contact information; and an account of the concern. It also asks about visits, care-plan participation and an alternate contact. Prepare specific events and dates so intake can identify the matter.

Supporting guidance: DHSR filing instructions ↗DHSR facility complaint form ↗

Limits

What this route may not provide

Intake investigates issues governed by applicable state law or federal regulation. Its directory separates physician and urgent-care complaints, labor issues, HIPAA or discrimination concerns, and Medicare or Medicaid fraud. Facility oversight and individual practitioner discipline are different processes.

Supporting guidance: DHSR complaint intake scope and contacts ↗DHSR filing instructions ↗

Anonymity

Do not guess about confidentiality

DHSR says it does not share the complainant’s identifying information with the facility. The reviewed instructions did not establish an anonymous-filing rule or broader public-record disclosure rules; ask intake before relying on anonymity.

Supporting guidance: DHSR filing instructions ↗

Complaint timing

DHSR states that incidents must have occurred within the past year.

The one-year statement concerns the age of incidents DHSR can investigate. It is separate from the urgency assigned after intake; no guaranteed completion time was established.

Supporting guidance: DHSR filing instructions ↗

Process

What may happen after filing

Complaints are prioritized by seriousness. The appropriate licensing section conducts unannounced investigations, except adult care home complaints, which intake forwards to local social services. Ask intake how to obtain status or findings; the reviewed instructions do not promise a particular outcome.

Supporting guidance: DHSR filing 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.

Read the linked authority and process information ↗

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. A routine grievance does not substitute for that 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.