Complaint Process

Before using this dispute resolution process, please refer to point (1) to determine if a reasonable effort was made to resolve the issue causing disagreement between the parties.

(1) If a client, staff, agent or any other concerned individual has a complaint about a service, or any other issue, they received or are receiving from a staff, or agent-- the client, agent or another individual should try to resolve the issue first with the staff or agent concerned.

(2) If a solution cannot be found at this level, or the client, staff, agent, or another individual is not satisfied with the outcome of their effort, they would initiate the complaint process by doing the following:

(3) If the client, staff , agent or another individual determines that the complaint relates to an issue concerning an ethics violation, they can send an email directly to the Director of Spiritual Affairs, Social Works and Ethics-- briefly explaining the issue, parties concerned, steps they have taken to resolve it, and provide a call back number. The email address to be used is: intakeandhr@compassionna.com

(4) If the staff, agent, or another individual cannot determine the nature of the issue, please follow step five(5) below.

(5) If the issue is urgent, call the Director of Nursing directly, using the main office line on this website www.compassionna.com ,

(6) Otherwise, complete the Report an Incident form on this website, briefly explaining the issue, identifying the parties to the issue, and providing a call back number or email address.

(7) On receipt of the complaint, the Director of Nursing would respond within 24 hours to arrange a meeting with the staff member and client, or individual concerned, to investigate the issue and mediate an acceptable outcome.

(8) If the Director of Nursing determines that the complaint is related to an ethics violation such as abuse of a client, staff, agent,or another individual, he/she would complete an issue log and send an email request to the Director of Spiritual Affairs, Social Work and Ethics to take over the case.

(9) The Director of Spiritual Affairs, Social Work and Ethics would take over the case and would initiate communication with the aggrieved party within 24 hours, explaining the investigation process and providing a time frame, which the aggrieved party should agree to in writing or by a phone call.

(10) The Director of Spiritual Affairs, Social Work and Ethics, would conduct the investigation--holding sessions,questioning individuals knowledgeable about the issue,and other activities as may be necessary to reach a comprehensive understanding, fair, and impartial finding.

(11) The Director of Spiritual Affairs, Social Work and Ethics, after conducting the investigation, would document their findings and provide a remedy to the issue by applying or interpreting organizational policy or by substituting,explaining, and documenting their expert judgment, should the organizational policy be inadequate for the specific case.

(12) The decision of the Director of Spiritual Affairs, Social Works and Ethics, shall be binding on the parties concerned. But if any of the parties is not satisfied, or thinks that additional and new information--that was not available during the investigation-- that he/she believes could have altered the outcome of the investigation, she/he can appeal directly to the CEO in writing, providing complete details of the case, the new information they would like considered, and a copy of the ruling provided by the Director.

(13) If the CEO determines that the new information provided is relevant and material to the decision that was made, the CEO may decide to call additional witnesses and hold additional hearings.

(14) At the end of the hearing, or if the CEO determines that the new information is not material to the decision made by the Director, the CEO may (1) uphold the decision made by the Director (2) Substitute a different decision based on the outcome of the new investigation.

(15) The CEO may delegate another officer to perform this role, as he or she pleases. If this is done, the decision made by that individual would have the same weight as if the CEO made the decision.

(16) A letter explaining the decision would be provided to the parties concerned, explaining the decision of the CEO, and stating that the decision is final and no further remedy is possible for the specific issue.

(17) If the Director of Nursing determines that the issue is not related to ethics, but is related to service delivery, he/she would arrange a meeting between the parties to mediate a mutually acceptable solution.

(18) If a mutually acceptable solution cannot be reached by mediation, the Director of Nursing may use their office to settle the dispute by issuing verbal and/or written apologies, giving instructions, and/or taking additional actions to avoid the continuation of the conflict.

(19) If any of the parties does not agree with the decision of the Director, based on the merits of the case, expert judgment , and organizational values, the Director may impose a range of solutions from re-education, changing the assigned agent, separation, to dropping the client caseload and terminating the service contract. The CEO must approve any decision to terminate a contract.

(20) The Director would provide their decision in writing, referencing the relevant human resource policy, and contract clause/s supporting their decision, after receiving CEO approval.

(21) The organization may from time to time, but at least once a year, review this dispute resolution process, ensuring that it continues to be relevant and adequately serves the interest of the client, staff, and agents.

Please take notice of the following:

Notwithstanding the provisions of the dispute resolution process, this process does not in any way interfere with the legal right of the client, agent, or another concerned individual to bring any action in court or to the police against Compassion North America Home Health Services or their agent for any wrongdoing related to negligence, willful harm, abuse, or other offense against them.

However, Compassion North America Home Health Services has also taken a proactive approach to preventing discrimination, abuse of clients, and abuse of staff. The organization may from time to time initiate panel discussions, organize key informant interviews, and take other actions that strengthen the measures adopted by the organization to create a workplace, for our clients and staff, free of these threats.