Patient Concerns

Public Reporting of Concerns or Complaints about Patient Care and Safety

Public Reporting of Concerns or Complaints about Patient Care and Safety

If you, your family, or visitors have concerns or complaints regarding patient care or safety, we want to hear from you.  We want to take care of any problem as it happens.  If you have tried this and the problem has not been taken care of, you may ask to speak to the Service Level Patient Advocate for that area.

WTVAHCS Patient Advocate Program:   If your concerns are more difficult and require work between two or more services, please contact one of the facility level Patient Advocates.  More Information…

Written Communication:    Patients, family or visitors who prefer, may write a letter to our facility Director, West Texas VA Health Care System (WTVAHCS), 300 Veterans Blvd., Big Spring, Texas 79720.

WTVAHCS Patient Safety Hotline:   Any patient, family, or visitor may anonymously report a safety or quality related issue by calling:  (432) 263-7361, extension 5024.

Reporting a Concern Outside the West Texas VA Health Care System:  If your concerns cannot be resolved through the hospital, you may contact the Joint Commission by mail, phone, fax, or e-mail.  You may either provide your name and contact information or submit your complaint anonymously.  Providing your name and contact information enables the Joint Commission to inform you about the actions taken in response to your complaint, and also contact you if they need more information.  The Joint Commission treats names as confidential information and does not disclose it to any other party.  However, it may be necessary to share the complaint with the specific organization in the course of the complaint investigation.  More information…

Phone (toll-free):  800-994-6610
Fax:  630- 792-5636
E-mail:  complaints@jointcommission.org
Mail:  The Joint Commission Office of Quality Monitoring, One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL  60181

The Joint Commission policy forbids accredited organizations from taking retaliatory actions against individuals for having reported quality of care or safety concerns to the Joint Commission.

Patients, families, visitors and staff may also report suspected criminal activity, fraud, inadequate patient care, waste or abuse of Government resources or mismanagement of VA programs to the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) by calling:  1-800-488-8244 or you may write to them at:  VAOIG Hotline, P. O. Box 50410, Washington, DC  20091-0410.

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