Medicare patients urged to speak up; Campaign explains process of complaining about quality of care.(Capital Region)

Byline: CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY - Staff Writer

ALBANY - Come on people, complain.

An agency that watches over the quality of care provided to Medicare patients says senior citizens aren't complaining enough.

"It's not because there aren't any problems," said Michael Burgess, director of the state Office for the Aging, who attended an information session Tuesday about the complaint process at the Marriott on Wolf Road.

Last year, only 343 of New York's 3 million Medicare beneficiaries filed complaints to IPRO, a federally funded Medicare quality improvement organization for New York. That's a .01 percent complaint rate.

The state …