AHCA Getting Involved with Visitation Complaints
We are excited that many ALF communities have been working diligently to complete their policies and procedures and are now offering various types of visitation, choosing essential caregivers, compassionate visitors and providing general visitation.
Unfortunately, and according to the Caregivers for Compromise Facebook page, Mary is now asking family members to contact AHCA and to file a complaint if families are not being designated as essential caregivers. Please see Mary's comments below:
"If you are not being allowed in under the Essential Caregiver designation or if you are being restricted by rules that are not allowed for an EC, PLEASE FILE A COMPLAINT WITH AHCA.
If you have previously filed a complaint and nothing has changed, PLEASE FILE A FOLLOW-UP COMPLAINT WITH AHCA.
You may file a complaint with the Agency by calling their toll-free Complaint & Information Call Center at 1-888-419-3456 or by competing their online complaint form at https://apps.ahca.myflorida.com/hcfc/
Educate yourself, especially with the AHCA document from 9/9 that can be found at this link, so you can specifically tell AHCA the violation(s) that need correction. If you want a follow-up call to discuss the findings of their call and/or visit you must provide your name and contact information with the complaint.
AHCA will call the facility right away and try to educate them during that phone call and hopefully solve the problem immediately. If the facility fails to comply, AHCA will visit the facility and issue a citation with fines if they refuse to be compliant.
I am extremely confident that AHCA wants to help us so I strongly encourage you to file a formal complaint TODAY! If you are reluctant or fearful to file a complaint, I want to remind you that YOU are your loved one's advocate. Even AHCA believes the facilities have had plenty of time to comply. It's time to step up and say we've had enough! If not now, when?
We are continuing to work with the facility professional associations to get their help in calling facilities and we are staying in touch with our media friends so they can follow our progress too. We're almost there so please keep fighting, do not give up! Together, we can do this!"