file a complaint

Many of us have had serious problems with our DMEs, and a couple of us have had the APAP prescription set incorrectly by the DME respiratory therapist. With the lowest level of complaint, JCAHO says "As these complaints are reviewed and entered into the Quality Monitoring System, the complaint history is reviewed to assess whether there are related trends. If a pattern is identified, a quality trend flag is indicated."

Reporting Poor Quality of Care

Durable Medical Equipment/ Home Care organizations in the US, and some international healthcare organizations, are subject to monitoring by JCAHO, pronounced “Jayco”, the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, http://www.jointcommission.org/. If you receive poor quality of care, you can file a complaint. It’s not as complicated as it may look.

1. Go to the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety, Patients and Families section at
http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/show.asp?durki=9329

2. To find out if the healthcare organization is on the Joint Commission’s list, go to
http://www.qualitycheck.org/ . You can search by organization and state.

(For international healthcare organizations, go to http://www.jcrinc.com/international.asp?durki=7693)

3. To read what types of complaints are covered, go to File a Complaint (scroll down) at
http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/show.asp?durki=9342

4. To read Quality Incident Report Criteria on levels of complaints and how they are handled, go to http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralP ... iteria.htm

5. To file a US domestic complaint, go back to File a Complaint at http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/show.asp?durki=9342

(To file an international complaint, go to http://www.jcrinc.com/international.asp?durki=7756)

6. To find the Quality Incident Report Form, a Word document, go to
http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Complaint/

If you have questions about how to file your complaint, you may contact the Joint Commission at this toll free U.S. telephone number, 8:30 to 5 p.m., Central Time, weekdays. 1-800-994-6610.

Interesting idea, but the exclusive DME for the major sleep center in my area is not listed. also, the sleep center is not listed under the category for sleep disorder centers, nor are any of the facilities listed for sleep disorder centers. when i clicked on the link for the only company that might be a sleep disorder dme in my area, the information provided was minimal indeed. so maybe this is a new idea that is just getting off the ground, but so far it just looks like a pat on the back for established health care providers, rather than a consumer watchdog.

so maybe the thing to do is submit a complaint if anyone is unhappy with the providers listed and see what happens.

Caroline