SPEAK UP: AN EMPOWERED PATIENT IS A HEALTHIER PATIENT

Change happens when we speak up.  If you believe you have experienced mismanagement by a Non-Physician Practitioner (NPP: a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant), don’t be silent about it.  Many people consider reporting mismanagement if it leads to harm, which makes sense.  However, there is another type of mismanagement, called a “near miss”.  A “near miss” is an event that could have harmed you, but didn’t.  It is important that both types of mismanagement are reported: those that caused harm and those that could have caused harm.

Your reporting options will vary based on where your treatment occurred.

REPORTING WITHIN A PRIVATE PRACTICE OFFICE:

  1. Send written communication (email or letter) to the Office Manager/Operations Director.
  2. Copy that same written communication to the Physicians in the practice, particularly any Physician contractually connected to the NPP (“delegating physician”, “collaborating physician”, “supervising physician”).
  3. If the NPP mismanagement is related to care by a Nurse Practitioner, report to your State Board of Nursing. If the mismanagement is related to care by a Physician Assistant, report to your State Board of Medicine.  Some states have Joint Boards that oversee NPs or PAs.  Use our search system on this page to find out which Board to contact for your state.  SCROLL DOWN TO SEARCH FOR THE RIGHT PLACE TO REPORT IN YOUR STATE.
  4. If you used your insurance for the office visit related to the NPP mismanagement, report it to your Insurance Company as well.  We suggest doing an online search for your Insurance Company’s “Grievance hotline”, then following the instructions given.   This is an important step.  Insurance companies (and you!) pay more for more testing, more labs, more imaging, and more referrals, and you pay for more a missed diagnosis or a misdiagnosis.  Insurance companies will care if they’re spending more than they should, and they may change who they will credential to treat patients within their systems.

REPORTING WITHIN A HOSPITAL OR HOSPITAL-OWNED SYSTEM:

  1. Report to the Patient Advocate.  This person might also be called a Patient Ombudsman, Patient Safety Liaison, or Patient Relations Representative.  You can find out who this is by asking hospital staff or by looking at the posted or printed Patient Rights statement from the facility or by calling the hospital operator.
  2. Report to Risk Management at the facility.  This is a department that handles any event that could lead to patient harm or liability.
  3. Report to the Chief Medical Officer of the facility.  This is usually a physician, and is the person in charge of managing clinical procedures at the administrative level.
  4. If the NPP mismanagement is related to care by a Nurse Practitioner, report to your State Board of Nursing. If the mismanagement is related to care by a Physician Assistant, report to your State Board of Medicine.  Some states have Joint Boards that oversee NPs or PAs.  Use our search system on this page to find out which Board to contact for your state. SCROLL DOWN TO SEARCH FOR THE RIGHT PLACE TO REPORT IN YOUR STATE.
  5. You can file a complaint with the State Board of Health.  You can find that information using our search feature on this page.
  6. If you used your insurance for the office visit related to the NPP mismanagement, report it to your Insurance Company as well.  We suggest doing an online search for your Insurance Company’s “Grievance hotline”, then following the instructions given.   This is an important step.  Insurance companies (and you!) pay more for more testing, more labs, more imaging, and more referrals, and you pay for more a missed diagnosis or a misdiagnosis.  Insurance companies will care if they’re spending more than they should, and they may change who they will credential to treat patients within their system.
  7. Most importantly, file a Patient Safety Event with The Joint Commission, which is the body that accredits many hospitals in the US.  You can file this report by going to www.jointcommission.org, and using the “Report a Patient Safety Event” link in the “Action Center” of the homepage.  You can also file by fax to 630-792-5636.  Or file by mail to Office of Quality and Patient Safety, The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181.

REPORTING WITHIN THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM:

  1. Report to the Patient Advocate.  This person might also be called a Patient Ombudsman, Patient Safety Liaison, or Patient Relations Representative.  You can find out who this is by asking hospital staff or by looking at the posted or printed Patient Rights statement from the facility or by calling the hospital operator.
  2. Report to the Associate Chief of Staff, usually a physician overseeing care in a particular specialty. You’ll want to report to the one in the specialty that concerns you (primary care, cardiology, nephrology, etc).
  3. If the NPP mismanagement is related to care by a Nurse Practitioner, report to your State Board of Nursing. If the mismanagement is related to care by a Physician Assistant, report to your State Board of Medicine.  Some states have Joint Boards that oversee NPs or PAs.  Use our search system on this page to find out which Board to contact for your state. SCROLL DOWN TO SEARCH FOR THE RIGHT PLACE TO REPORT IN YOUR STATE.
  4. Report to the Office of the Inspector General.
  5. Contact your Congressional representative.  This will have the greatest impact and will inform our Congress when they consider scope of practice expansion in the future.
  6. File a grievance with TriCare, if you used TriCare insurance.
  7. File a Patient Safety Event with The Joint Commission, which is the body that accredits many hospitals in the US.  You can file this report by going to www.jointcommission.org, and using the “Report a Patient Safety Event” link in the “Action Center” of the homepage.  You can also file by fax to 630-792-5636.  Or file by mail to Office of Quality and Patient Safety, The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181.

REPORTING TO MEDICARE:

  1. Use this link to file a complaint with your Beneficiary and Family Centered Care-Quality Improvement Organization (BFCC-QIOs), which exists to manage all complaints and quality of care reviews for Medicare beneficiaries.

REPORTING CARE FROM A CVS MINUTE CLINIC:

  1. Every CVS MinuteClinic should provide you with a Notice of Patient Rights or at least have one posted and available to you.   This notice states that you have the right to be informed of the procedure for submitting a complaint about MinuteClinic and/or the quality of care you have received.  Ask that MinuteClinic for the procedure to file a report about your care.
  2. If the NPP mismanagement is related to care by a Nurse Practitioner, report to your State Board of Nursing. If the mismanagement is related to care by a Physician Assistant, report to your State Board of Medicine.  Some states have Joint Boards that oversee NPs or PAs.  Use our search system on this page to find out which Board to contact for your state. SCROLL DOWN TO SEARCH FOR THE RIGHT PLACE TO REPORT IN YOUR STATE.
  3. If you used your insurance for the MinuteClinic visit related to the NPP mismanagement, report it to your Insurance Company as well.  We suggest doing an online search for your Insurance Company’s “Grievance hotline”, then following the instructions given.   This is an important step.  Insurance companies (and you!) pay more for more testing, more labs, more imaging, and more referrals, and you pay for more a missed diagnosis or a misdiagnosis.  Insurance companies will care if they’re spending more than they should, and they may change who they will credential to treat patients within their system.