Every year, over 23,000 Arkansans receive services from some form of Long-Term Care facility. These facilities are all overseen and inspected by the Arkansas Office of Long Term Care.
These Facility types may include:
- Nursing Homes
- Senior Living
- Skilled Nursing
- Medicaid Beds
- Medicare Beds
- Other Long-Term Care Options
To learn more about researching and finding Assisted Living or other Long-Term Care options in Arkansas please visit our Arkansas Senior Living Research Guide.
How To File A Complaint in Arkansas
We’d like to all think that every facility is 100% clean, safe, honest, and with perfectly trained staff. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Maltreatment, safety issues, poor quality of care, privacy issues, or neglect can happen in any facility.
Most facilities have policies in place for residents to voice concerns or report issues. However, at times, these procedures are not adequate and state-level interventions or investigations may be in order.
Residents and families, however, do not always know where to go to file an official complaint about facility issues or treatment.
Fortunately, in Arkansas, you may file a complaint against a Senior Living facility through the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
The page, at this time, looks like this:
You can see that there is a section dedicated to Filing a Complaint.
Unfortunately, there is not an “online form” that can be filled out. However, you can file a complaint in the following ways:
- Phone: 1-800-582-4887
- Fax your complaint to: 501-682-8540, Attention Complaint Unit
- E-mail your complaint to: complaints.OLTC@arkansas.gov
- Mail a Letter: Complaints Unit, Office of Long Term Care, P.O. Box 8059, Slot S407, Little Rock, AR 72203-8059
Can A Complaint Be Submitted Anonymously
The short answer to this is yes. We believe this is important since, at times, residents fear retributions or retaliation from facility staff or administrators for filing a complaint.
However, the State of Arkansas will not be able to follow up with the person filing the complaint (or family) if the report is made anonymously.
Arkansas Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
Another resource that can be used by seniors and families is the Arkansas Long-Term Care Ombudsman.
The mission of the LTC Ombudsman is as follows:
One of the key functions of the LTC Ombudsman is “investigating and resolving complaints to the residents’ satisfaction.’ The LTC Ombudsman is a neutral, unbiased 3rd party that can advocate for Senior Living residents. The Ombudsman also serves to ‘Promote the Residents’ Rights guaranteed to residents under federal and state law and regulations.’
Arkansas is divided into a number of different regions, each served by a local LTC Ombudsman. There is a handy scrolling table on the Arkansas LTC Ombudsman site that lists the representative for each region. The table looks like this:
Arkansas Residents:
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The Clarksville retirement center is still having trouble with inadequate meals. We need them to put out peanut butter and bread for in between meals. The state can afford this they bill for large amounts here for services. They are not decorating properly for the holidays. Someone took all the Xmas lights off our charlie brown tree. We have no Christmas lights. They put out 7 things this year is it.It made us cry.They are mean too sometimes the staff is.we are hungry too!!! The staff told us your decorations is all your going to get. I think some of the staff took our Xmas decorations home, I saw them breaking things too. I believe some of them are tough to deal with as in the staff.A lot they think they know when they don’t know. I don’t why this happening they are nice people, not anymore they are obnoxious to deal with. That awful for us when the staff acts up like that .I will tell the coordinator this morning I hope she is going to help. I wouldn’t be asking unless it was really bad.
Clarksville retirement center is starving. We need peanut butter and bread in between meals for awhile till it gets fixed. Staff is not helpful. The state has money for this. Till we fix it. Please help.We don’t know why they are not feeding properly. All the Xmas decorations were broken. Our tree lights are gone. Its bad mentally this for us we are depressed already and don’t need this too. Staff is unhelpful and rather mean to deal with. The peanut butter is needed asap. We are hungry after meals we are getting below 2000 calories a day. My plate is always short of food. I am an RN and used to work in Clarksville as a nurse.
We are still having problems with lack of adequate meals, at the Clarksville retirement center, the meals are light and we are eating a lot of beans. The combination of foods on our plates is light. It was fine when I first got here.We are eating a lot of canned fruit. We need an experienced cook maybe? Please help.