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Based on record review and interview the facility failed to respond in writing to a family member who complained to the facility that their father died because of poor quality of care during his hospital admission.

The facility failed to implement their grievance policy which require the facility respond in writing to grievances. Citing one (1) Patient named in a complaint, Patient #1.

Findings:

Review of complaint Narrative dated 10/17/2016 revealed information Patient # 1 was admitted to the hospital on 12/14/2015 and died at the hospital on 1/14/2016. Ther complainant alleged during the one month Patient # 1 was admitted in the hospital the "incompetence and negligence of the Doctors, Nurses and Hospital Staff succesfully killed the patient on January 14, 2016."

The Complainant alleged the family met with the Hospital to get answers to their concerns but did not get any answers.

Review of the facility's complaint /Grievance logs for January 26, 2016 through November 10, 2016 revealed no documentation of the family's complaints or information on the family meeting conducted on 1/26/2016.

During an interview on 11/10/2016 at 11:15 am with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) she stated the family did have concerns regarding the care of Patient #1 and the circumstance of his death. The CNO stated the facility did not consider it to be a grievance so no letter was sent to the complainant.

According to the CNO the complaints by the family were not documented in the facility's
Complaint/Grievance System.

Review of the facility's Complaint/Grievance Policy and Procedure dated May 2016 revealed the following information:

"To allow all patients and/or their representatives their right to voice complaints and/or grievances about his or her care, and to have those complaints reviewed and, when possible, resolved.
Complaints or grievances that are reported directly to Administration will be entered into Resolvv and forwarded to the appropriate member of the Leadership team.

The Director/Manager handling the complaint enter the findings and actions taken under event response in Resolvv, noting whether or not there was resolution.
If the complaint is not promptly resolved, the complaint then becomes a grievance and is noted as such in Resolvv.

Following review and investigation of grievances, the Risk Manager is responsible for ensuring that a written notice of the hospital's determination regarding the grievance is communicated to the patient or the patient's representative in a language and manner the patient or the patient's representative.

The written response will contain the following elements: name of the hospital, hospital contact
person, steps taken on behalf of the patient to investigate the grievance, the results of the grievance process, and the date of completion of the grievance process".