APS investigates suspected abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect involving an individual adult, administered county-by-county. A facility-standards complaint (about licensing compliance, staffing, or care quality at a specific CBRF, RCAC, adult family home, or nursing home) goes to DHS's Bureau of Assisted Living instead.
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These two systems can overlap in a real situation -- for example, suspected neglect happening inside a licensed facility could reasonably trigger both an APS report and a separate facility-standards complaint to the Bureau of Assisted Living -- so if you're not sure which applies, it's reasonable to make both a report to the statewide APS hotline (833-586-0107) and a complaint call to the Bureau of Assisted Living (608-266-8482) rather than guessing wrong and having your concern routed to the wrong office. In an emergency, always call 911 first, per DHS's own guidance, before working through either of these other channels.
