Wyoming Facility or system Complaint Route

Authority and scope

Check the facility type and concern

HLS covers licensed hospitals, surgical centers, nursing facilities, assisted living, adult foster/boarding homes, home health, hospice, psychiatric hospitals and community mental-health centers. Behavioral Health Division certification separately covers specified state-funded or court-referred substance-use services and contracted behavioral-health centers, including residential/outpatient services. Certification does not cover every private mental-health practice.

Supporting guidance: Healthcare Licensing and Surveys ↗Provider certification ↗MHSA Certification Handbook, March 2026 ↗

Match the route to the facility type

HLS healthcare and residential facilities

Hospitals, surgery, nursing homes, assisted/adult residential care, home health/hospice, psychiatric hospitals and licensed community mental-health centers.

Open this official route ↗

Behavioral Health Division certified programs

Separate specified substance-use and contracted behavioral-health programs; written complaint, prior provider complaint and one-year limit apply.

Open this official route ↗

Submission

How the official source says to file

For HLS, call 307-777-7123 and ask for a health surveyor; fax 307-777-7127; or mail the facility complaint form to HLS, Attn: Health Care Facility Complaint, Hathaway Building, Suite 510, 2300 Capitol Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82002. Do not email that form.
Identify the facility/location, affected people, your relationship, dates, times, staff and witnesses with contact details. Explain what happened and earlier facility discussions. The form asks for enough facts to locate records and contact witnesses; retain supporting copies.
For a Behavioral Health Division certified program, the March 2026 handbook requires a formal written complaint naming the complainant, address/phone, subject and complete alleged violation/facts. It also requires first submitting the concern to the provider and finding the resolution unacceptable; keep that documentation. Contact the certification program at 800-535-4006, option 2, to confirm delivery instructions.

Supporting guidance: HLS complaints ↗HLS facility complaint form ↗MHSA Certification Handbook, March 2026 ↗

Limits

What this route may not provide

HLS investigates care, rights, abuse, staffing, diet and environmental concerns; it excludes billing and insurance disputes. Confirm both facility licensure and program certification when a treatment center has overlapping oversight. These routes do not replace individual professional licensing complaints.

Supporting guidance: HLS complaints ↗MHSA Certification Handbook, March 2026 ↗

Anonymity

Do not guess about confidentiality

HLS accepts anonymous reports and says it does not reveal the complainant’s identity to the facility, but warns that circumstances may reveal who complained. Identified complainants receive acknowledgment and findings. The separate certification complaint requires complainant identifiers; its public-disclosure and facility-sharing rules were not established.

Supporting guidance: HLS facility complaint form ↗MHSA Certification Handbook, March 2026 ↗HLS complaints ↗

Complaint timing

HLS urges prompt reporting; certification complaints have a one-year limit

HLS’s form says complaints may be filed at any time but urges prompt reporting. Its webpage describes investigation priorities: immediate-jeopardy reports within two working days, higher harm within 2–10, most others within 60 working days. These are agency targets. The certification handbook separately requires filing within one year of the alleged violation.

Supporting guidance: HLS complaints ↗HLS facility complaint form ↗MHSA Certification Handbook, March 2026 ↗

Process

What may happen after filing

HLS investigates through interviews and facility-record review, with follow-up to identified complainants. The certification program may investigate, require correction, issue adverse action and conduct an administrative hearing. Do not assume one unit automatically handles the other unit’s complaint.

Supporting guidance: HLS complaints ↗HLS facility complaint form ↗MHSA Certification Handbook, March 2026 ↗

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.