Laboratory Investigations Unit
Complaints NOT reviewed by this office
- Hospital, diagnostic, ambulatory surgical, dialysis and treatment centers, and primary care clinic issues in New York State are reported to the Department of Health[1].
- Billing issues, including consumer health care rights and billing, are reported to the Attorney General's Office Health Care Bureau[2].
- Insurance issues, including health insurance products offered in New York State, are reported to the Department of Financial Services[3].
- HIPAA privacy violations are reported to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights[4] (OCR).
- Misconduct by licensed physicians, related only to the care provided by a physician in private practice, is reported to the Office of Professional Medical Conduct[5] or 1-800-663-6114.
- Attitudes of facility or clinical staff may be reported to a representative at the facility.
Complaints about New York State Environmental and Clinical Laboratories
The New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center's Division of Quality Laboratory Certification’s quality and regulatory programs are responsible for providing oversight of clinical and environmental laboratories, blood banks, tissue banks, blood and breath alcohol testing for vehicle and traffic enforcement, and facilities that utilize living animals.
These programs monitor compliance with public health law and licensure requirements to ensure accurate, reliable, reproducible test results are obtained from specimens or samples tested in or from New York State.
Generally, only those complaints concerning issues that occurred within the past year will be considered. However, NOT all complaints will be assigned for investigation. Please note that complaints must be submitted in writing.
Please email[6] your response to the prompts below (the Facility Complaint Form) or mail the information to the attention of the Laboratory Investigations Unit at the address provided to the right.
If you are unable to email or print this form, please call the toll-free number at 1-800-682-6056 and someone will assist you.
All complaints are reviewed by professional staff using established guidelines to determine if a complaint will be assigned for investigation. You will be notified of the outcome of this review in writing. Any future correspondence regarding the same issues will not affect the outcome of this decision.
Facility Complaint Form
Providing information about you will allow Department staff to contact you should additional information be needed. It is our policy to keep your name confidential. In order to address your concern, it may be necessary to share the nature of your complaint with the facility. Please do not attach any additional information at this time.
- First Name:
- Last Name:
- Address:
- Phone:
- Email Address:
- Do you wish to remain anonymous? (Your contact information will not be shared with the facility) [Yes][No]:
- Date of Occurrence:
- Time of Occurrence:
- Facility Name:
- Facility Address:
- Have you filed a complaint with the facility? [Yes][No]:
- Provide a detailed description of the complaint below. Please limit your complaint to 1000 words: