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7 day resolution compliance

By Jane Gibson posted 09-03-2014 01:24 PM

  
The 7 day resolution compliance requirement is not possible at our hospital.  I alone work part time in Risk and address all grievances.  Patient concerns are reviewed by the appropriate director/manager, then taken to our grievance committee for final resolution response to the patient.  Our policy is to respond to the patient within 7 days and inform them of the approximate time to resolution. It is our policy to close a grievance with a written response. 
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Comments

Cheri Samuels
04-07-2015 09:58 AM

You may want to review CoP - Patients’ Rights (§482.13) - Provides clarification of the patient grievance process, revises the definition of grievance, and clarifies requirements for the provision of a written response.
If the grievance will not be resolved, or if the investigation is not or will not be completed within 7 days, the hospital should inform the patient or the patient’s representative that the hospital is still working to resolve the grievance and that the hospital will follow-up with a written response within a stated number of days in accordance with each hospital’s grievance policy. The hospital must attempt to resolve all grievances as soon as possible.
Many Hospitals send an acknowledgement letter of the receipt of the Grievance within the 7 day timeframe.
CMS states - a grievance is complicated and may require an extensive investigation. We
recognize that staff scheduling as well as fluctuations in the numbers and complexity of
grievances can affect the timeframes for the provision of written responses.
We do not require that every grievance be resolved during the specified timeframe although most should be resolved.

Dawn Sheffield
09-18-2014 10:26 AM

I agree it is difficult to meet the 7 day requirement. I had a surveyor recently tell me that if I could not meet the time-frame due to having to route the complaint/grievance to managers, physicians or others for their review, that I document the dates each referral was made so I could illustrate the grievance was being processed. It is good that you write the initial "we are working on it" letter within the 7 days and then follow-up with a final communication with the issue has been fully vetted.

Mercedes Lewis
09-10-2014 01:32 PM

Jane, at our facility we have a 7 day compliance requirement as well. We have incorporated a 3 day turn around for director/manager follow-up. We also do not call the committee together for resolution of every grievance. We have a consensus to the response from 3 committee members and review the final responses at each committee meeting. We then ask for members suggestions on how a response could be handled better in the future.