The F-tag library.
Plain-English explanations of the most-cited federal nursing-home deficiencies, with real survey narratives from 40 states and patterns for writing an acceptable POC.
Most-cited F-tag during and after COVID. Failure to establish and maintain an infection prevention and control program designed to provide a safe, sanitary, and comfortable environment and to help pre…
Infection Control · 518 surveysFailure to procure food from approved sources, store food in a safe manner under sanitary conditions, prepare and serve food consistent with professional standards for food service safety. Foodborne i…
Food and Nutrition · 340 surveysMost-cited F-tag nationally. Failure to ensure the resident environment is as free of accident hazards as is possible, and that each resident receives adequate supervision and assistance devices to pr…
Quality of Care · 295 surveysCatch-all citation for failure to provide care and services consistent with the resident's comprehensive assessment and care plan to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and ps…
Quality of Care · 257 surveysFailure to develop and implement an individualized, person-centered comprehensive care plan that includes measurable objectives and timeframes to meet the resident's medical, nursing, mental, and psyc…
Care Plans · 188 surveysFailure to label drugs and biologicals in accordance with currently accepted professional principles, and store drugs and biologicals in locked compartments with separately locked controlled drug stor…
Pharmacy · 182 surveysFailure to maintain a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment — including temperature regulation, lighting, sound, cleanliness of resident rooms and common areas, and resident-personalized …
Resident Rights · 161 surveysFailure to review and revise the resident's comprehensive care plan after each assessment — including quarterly, annual, significant change, and any time the resident's condition warrants update.…
Care Plans · 157 surveysFailure to ensure residents receive care consistent with professional standards to prevent the development of pressure injuries and to provide treatment that promotes healing of existing wounds.…
Skin Integrity · 148 surveysFailure to provide tracheostomy care, suctioning, ventilator management, oxygen therapy, or other respiratory care consistent with professional standards. Often cited with IJ when a resident has a res…
Quality of Care · 146 surveysFailure to ensure each MDS assessment accurately reflects the resident's status. Common when documentation in the medical record contradicts coded MDS items — frequently audited by CMS for fraud and M…
Resident Assessment · 99 surveysFacility failed to ensure each resident is free from verbal, sexual, physical, and mental abuse, corporal punishment, and involuntary seclusion. Includes resident-to-resident abuse the facility failed…
Freedom from Abuse · 92 surveysFailure to provide care and services to manage residents' pain in a manner that addresses the resident's individual goals and preferences for pain management.…
Quality of Care · 89 surveysFailure to provide routine and emergency drugs and biologicals to its residents, or obtain them under an agreement, and to maintain accurate records, controlled drug records, and proper storage.…
Pharmacy · 84 surveysFailure to ensure residents maintain acceptable parameters of nutritional status, including body weight and protein levels, unless clinically unavoidable, and receive sufficient fluid intake.…
Quality of Care · 73 surveysFailure to immediately notify the resident, the resident's physician, and a family member or legal representative of a significant change in the resident's condition — including injury, hospitalizatio…
Resident Rights · 69 surveysFailure to ensure each resident with a mental disorder or psychosocial adjustment difficulty, or who has a history of trauma and/or post-traumatic stress disorder, receives appropriate, culturally com…
Behavioral Health · 18 surveysFailure to complete a comprehensive, accurate, standardized, reproducible assessment of each resident's functional capacity (MDS) within 14 days of admission, no less than once every 12 months, and wi…
Resident Assessment · 11 surveysFailure to provide the necessary behavioral health care and services to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident.…
Behavioral Health · 27 surveysFailure to have sufficient nursing staff with the appropriate competencies and skill sets to provide the level of services needed, based on the assessments and care plans of the residents.…
Nursing Services · 49 surveysFailure to provide proper dialysis services — including hemodialysis access site care, communication with the dialysis center, and management of fluid/dietary restrictions for dialysis residents.…
Quality of Care · 64 surveys