More than 5,500 complaints filed with the Health Facility Commission between 2022 and 2025 were not investigated during the federally-mandated timeframe, a Comptroller’s Office of the Treasury audit found.
The Health Facilities Commission conducts routine surveys to ensure health and safety compliance in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. HFC also investigates complaints levied against these facilities by patients, family members and the public.
The audit found more than 42% of the complaints received by HFC were not investigated within the timeframe they were required to have done so — with some complaints going more than five years without a follow-up.
The findings were presented during a Government Operation Joint Evaluation Committee, in which Kingsport state Rep. John Crawford characterized the issue as in urgent need of remedy.
“I’m willing to give you the time to fix this problem with the understanding that you guys know that we are very concerned about this,” Crawford told HFC leadership during the Wednesday meeting. “And if you all can’t get the job done, then we have to answer to our constituency about why their family members or friends or neighbors are being mistreated.”
The complaints are categorized based on urgency; the more serious the complaint, the higher its classification and the quicker the commission’s response must be.
The most serious complaints are designated “Immediate Jeopardy,” in which recipients of care are at risk of serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment or death. The audit found that 1,202 Immediate Jeopardy investigations had been initiated an average of 128 days late.
