COLUMBIA, S.C. ― The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) has launched a new online portal to make it easier for South Carolinians to submit complaints about licensed health care facilities and professionals.
DPH’s Deputy Area of Healthcare Quality regulates certain health care facilities and providers in South Carolina. DPH enforces standards, inspects, and licenses facilities such as nursing homes, hospices, home health agencies, body piercing facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, tattoo facilities, adult day cares and renal dialysis facilities. DPH also works with facilities to help them improve the quality and safety of the care they provide. Information from complaints helps with these efforts.
“The new complaints portal is for anyone who wishes to file a complaint against a health facility or service regulated by DPH,” Gwen Thompson, DPH’s deputy director of Healthcare Quality. “When you encounter issues with a health facility or service regulated by DPH, you have the right to voice your concerns. Our new portal will streamline that process, making it easier for people to submit complaints and assisting our staff in addressing their concerns.”
In the new portal, complainants will answer questions aimed at assisting users in pinpointing exactly what DPH staff need to address in their follow up complaint investigations. Additionally, the new portal will auto-populate facility information the complainant may not know, including the facility’s license number, address, administrator and more, making it easier for the public to use and for DPH staff to triage.
Additionally, the new portal can be used by health care facilities and providers to report serious accidents and incidents, which are required to be reported to DPH.
“It is our hope that this new portal will expedite the complaints and reporting process, making our state’s licensed facilities safer for all South Carolinians,” Thompson said.
To submit a complaint, visit DPH’s File a Complaint webpage. If you are unable to submit your health facility complaint online, you can call DPH’s Healthcare Quality office at 1-800-922-6735 and indicate you wish to file a complaint about a health facility or service.
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