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Ten tags account for a large share of every nursing home survey. Each one has a pattern in the chart that a surveyor looks for, and each one can be checked before the survey window opens.
Published 2026-10-15 · AYAANIS Technologies, Philadelphia
For information only. This guide is general background for operators and their teams. It is not legal, regulatory or financial advice, and rules change by state and by payer. Check the current source documents linked at the bottom, and your own contracts, before acting.
CMS publishes every deficiency cited on a standard or complaint survey. In the current public dataset (citations recorded through May 21, 2026, roughly the last three survey cycles), ten tags lead the table[1]. Two are Life Safety Code K-tags; the rest are health tags that come straight from the resident record.
| Rank | Tag | What it covers | Facilities cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | F880 | Infection prevention and control program | 81.6% |
| 2 | F689 | Free of accident hazards; supervision and assistive devices (falls) | 69.6% |
| 3 | F812 | Food procurement, storage, preparation and service: sanitary conditions | 76.2% |
| 4 | F684 | Quality of care | 58.0% |
| 5 | K353 | Sprinkler system maintenance and testing (Life Safety Code) | 66.0% |
| 6 | F656 | Develop and implement a comprehensive care plan | 58.6% |
| 7 | F761 | Label and store drugs and biologicals | 60.7% |
| 8 | K918 | Essential electric system maintenance and testing (Life Safety Code) | 51.5% |
| 9 | F677 | ADL care provided for dependent residents | 44.8% |
| 10 | F695 | Respiratory and tracheostomy care and suctioning | 47.4% |
Ranks and share of facilities cited as reported from CMS data as of May 21, 2026[1]. Tag descriptions follow the CMS State Operations Manual, Appendix PP[2]. The share counts any facility cited at least once in the dataset, so it spans more than one survey.
A surveyor does not find F880 by luck. They pull a sample of residents, read the chart against the regulation, and look for the gap between what the facility said it would do and what the record shows it did. Infection control fails on hand hygiene observations and on surveillance logs that stop. Falls (F689) fail when an intervention on the care plan is missing from the record after the fall. Care plans (F656) fail when the plan was never updated after a change in condition that the nursing notes describe plainly.
That is the useful part. If the citation lives in the record, the record can be read for it every day, by the facility, before the surveyor arrives. The question is which residents to read, and under which tag.
A care plan intervention (bed alarm, two-person assist, weekly weights) with no evidence in the MAR, TAR or notes that it happened. F656, F689, F684, F677.
A fall, a wound, a weight loss or a new psychotropic in the notes with no corresponding care plan update. F656, F657, F684.
Infection surveillance, temperature logs, sprinkler and generator tests, narcotic counts: a log with a gap is a citation with a date on it. F880, F812, F761, K353, K918.
Standard surveys run no later than every 15.9 months, with a statewide average target of 12.9 months[3]. That gives a known window. The facilities that survey well treat the months before it as a daily review rather than a two-week scramble.
A workable routine: pick the ten tags above, decide what evidence in your own EHR proves compliance for each, and check that evidence for a sample of residents every morning. When a resident falls, the same morning, confirm the incident note, the care plan update and the new intervention all exist and agree. When a new admission arrives, confirm the baseline care plan is in the record within 48 hours. When a log is due, confirm it was completed, not just scheduled.
This is the work Veridence automates: it reads the facility's record every morning, ranks the residents a surveyor would stop on, names the F-tag, and opens the evidence behind each one. It runs read-only over the existing EHR, so nothing in the chart changes.
A free starting point: the Veridence readiness check pulls a facility's star ratings, last survey date, citations and survey window from public CMS data and gives a readiness estimate. No sign-up.
CMS requires a standard recertification survey no later than every 15.9 months, and states are held to a 12.9-month statewide average[3]. Complaint surveys can happen at any time. Special Focus Facilities are surveyed at least every six months.
In the current CMS dataset, F880 (infection prevention and control) leads, followed by F689 (accidents and supervision, mostly falls) and F812 (food safety)[1].
F-tags are health deficiencies under 42 CFR Part 483 (resident care, records, pharmacy, dietary). K-tags are Life Safety Code deficiencies (sprinklers, generators, fire doors) cited by the fire-safety surveyor. Both count against the facility and both appear on Care Compare.
Yes, when the evidence lives in the record. Software can read the care plans, MAR, notes and logs every day and flag where they disagree. It cannot observe a hand-hygiene lapse in the hallway; that part stays with the DON and the infection preventionist.
No. Veridence reads the record over the existing EHR (or serves as the record itself, when a facility chooses that). It never writes to a chart it is reading.
Veridence reads the record every morning and ranks what is citable, with the F-tag and the evidence behind each one. Start with the free readiness check.