Where a nursing-home or rehab complaint goes — AZDHS, Adult Protective Services, CMS/Medicare, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and (for dental care) the AZ Dental Board.
Where a complaint goes depends on the issue:
- Facility care, staffing, dignity, discharge — the AZDHS Bureau of Medical Facility Licensing handles complaints about licensed nursing facilities. This is the main channel for the kinds of issues documented on this site.
- Abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult — Adult Protective Services (APS), part of the AZ Department of Economic Security.
- Medicare billing or coverage — CMS and, for quality-of-care and discharge appeals, the Medicare quality-review organization (BFCC-QIO).
- Advocacy & rights — the Arizona Long-Term Care Ombudsman advocates for residents of licensed facilities.
- Dental care — AZDHS does not have jurisdiction over dental care; those complaints go to the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners.
What to include: dates, the facility name and license, who was involved (by role if you do not have names), what happened, what harm or risk resulted, and copies of any correspondence. Keep your own copy of everything and note the date sent. If a complaint survey finds no deficiencies, you can ask about the survey date and timeline.