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General FAQs

Q: What is the Health Facilities Consumer Information System (HFCIS)?

A: HFCIS is a website that provides immediate access to information about California’s licensed health facilities. The website includes facility profile information, such as ownership, certification status (acceptance of Medicare and/or Medi-Cal), and performance history including complaints, facility self-reported incidents, state enforcement actions, and deficiencies identified by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Licensing and Certification Program (L&C) staff.

Additionally, the Statement of Deficiencies/Plan of Correction (Form 2567) approved after March 23, 2011, are displayed on the webpage for the individual Skilled Nursing Facility.

Facilities can be located by entering a zip code, city, or county; a map of the surrounding area will be displayed.

Complaints regarding a specific facility may be submitted through HFCIS.

Q: Where does HFCIS data come from?

A: The information displayed in HFCIS comes from data recorded in the federal system "Automated Survey Processing Environment (ASPEN)" and the state "Electronic Licensing Management System (ELMS)."

Q: How is information displayed in HFCIS?

A: HFCIS displays complaints and facility self-reported incidents under the year of the Intake Received Date (e.g., Year 2009, Year 2010, etc.). The Intake Received Date is the date CDPH received the complaint or facility self-reported incident. The Intake Received Date may be different from the date an incident occurred or different from the date the facility reported the incident to CDPH. For example, reports faxed to CDPH after hours on Friday would have an Intake Received Date of the next working day.

HFCIS displays complaint and facility self-reported incidents only after the investigation has concluded. In some cases, the investigation closure may be significantly delayed due to law enforcement involvement or unavailable records (such as coroner’s reports). Once the investigation is concluded, it will be displayed in HFCIS under the year of the date it was originally received by CDPH.

For complaints and facility self-reported incidents that result in a state citation (i.e., AA, A or B citation), HFCIS displays the enforcement action under the date the citation was issued to the facility. Therefore, an incident may be displayed in two places: (1) Under the year of the Intake Received Date, and (2) under the year the citation was issued.

Q: What are the HFCIS limitations?

A: The following are HFCIS limitations:

1. HFCIS displays information based on the federal “intake category” that is determined at the time the event is initially logged into the CDPH data system. The intake category is determined by the initial information provided; however, this category may not be the appropriate category upon completion of the investigation.
2. HFCIS lists substantiated complaints; the deficiency cited may not be related to the intake category. HFCIS does not display enough information to inform a consumer if a deficient practice was associated with the intake category of a substantiated complaint.
3. In order to protect the privacy of developmentally disabled clients, HFCIS does not display the written complaint, facility self-reported incident investigation findings, nor the plan of corrections for any investigation conducted at a Developmental Center or an Intermediate Care Facility for the Mentally Retarded (pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code 5328.15).
4. HFCIS does not display the results for federal recertification surveys for Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded or for General Acute Care Hospitals.

Q: What is the difference between a facility self-reported incident and a complaint?

A: A facility self-reported incident is any report made to CDPH by a representative of a health care facility authorized to speak on behalf of the facility. Facilities are required to report unusual occurrences. Unusual occurrences may include epidemics, outbreaks, disasters, fires, disruption of services, major accidents or unusual occurrences that threaten the health and safety of patients, residents, clients, staff or visitors.

A complaint is a report received by CDPH for anything other than a facility self-reported incident. All complaints are anonymous; the identity of the person that made the complaint is not shared with the facility.

Facility self-reported incidents and complaints are investigated in the same manner.

Q: What does it mean if a complaint or facility self-reported incident investigation is "substantiated" or "unsubstantiated"?

A: Unsubstantiated finding – Any complaint or facility self-reported incident where evidence does not support the event occurred. A finding that is unsubstantiated can be due to the fact that an incident did not occur or a lack of sufficient evidence to support that it did occur.

Substantiated finding – Any complaint or facility self-reported incident that has sufficient evidence to support the event occurred. However, substantiated does not mean a federal and/or state deficiency occurred because there may not have been a violation of federal and/or state regulations or statutes.

Q: Under what circumstances does a facility receive a deficiency and/or citation?

A: When an investigation, through observation, interviews, and clinical record review, determines a deficient practice (State or Federal violation) occurred.

Q: What is a Form 2567?

A: The term "2567" is commonly used when referring to the document that contains the Summary Statement of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction. This form is used by CDPH to notify the health facility/provider of their non-compliance to federal or state regulations. In addition, this form is used by the health facility/provider to respond to CDPH with its corrective action plan and anticipated completion date.

The Form 2567 document contains two columns: Summary Statement of Deficiencies on the left and Plan of Correction on the right. Each cited deficiency and corrective action includes an identification tag followed by identifying information, such as the regulation code section.

At the conclusion of the facility’s inspection, if any violation of the law has been identified, CDPH issues the Statement of Deficiencies to the facility, listing the deficiencies cited in the Summary Statement of Deficiencies column. The cited deficiencies are based on the CDPH surveyors’ professional knowledge and interpretation of federal or state regulations.

For each cited deficiency, the facility must respond within ten days identifying the proposed corrective action and the anticipated date of correction.