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Data from CMS, updated September 1, 2026. How we rate · Report a correction

Health Deficiencies file

Deficiency tag glossary

Surveyors cite a nursing home under a numbered tag when they find it out of compliance with a federal requirement. This glossary lists the 263 tags that appear in the current Health Deficiencies file, using the description CMS prints on each citation.

Illustration of a caregiver walking beside an older man in a wheelchair in a nursing home hallway
Illustrated hallway in a U.S. nursing home. Generated illustration, not a photograph of a real facility or a rating on this site..

Most tags in this file begin with F. That prefix marks health requirements for nursing homes in Appendix PP of the State Operations Manual. A citation names the tag, the survey date, and a scope and severity letter from A to L. The letter is separate from the tag. F689 with a J is not the same finding as F689 with a D: the tag says which requirement was cited, and the letter says how widespread the problem was and whether residents were harmed.

Counts below are citation rows and distinct certified homes in this release, not a national lifetime total. An older tag number can still appear when a citation from a prior regulation set remains in the three-year window CMS keeps in the file. The description shown is the wording that appears most often for that code in this file.

Scope and severity

CMS scores each citation on two axes. Scope is isolated, pattern, or widespread. Harm runs from the potential for minimal harm, through the potential for more than minimal harm, to actual harm, and then to immediate jeopardy. Letters A through L are the combinations. In the Five-Star Technical Users' Guide, letters A, B, and C contribute zero points to the health inspection score. Higher letters contribute more points, and some cells add further points when the deficiency is substandard quality of care. The point grid is Table 1 of the September 2026 Technical Users' Guide.

Scope and severity letters A through L
LetterScopeHarm
AIsolatedNo actual harm, with potential for minimal harm
BPatternNo actual harm, with potential for minimal harm
CWidespreadNo actual harm, with potential for minimal harm
DIsolatedNo actual harm, with potential for more than minimal harm
EPatternNo actual harm, with potential for more than minimal harm
FWidespreadNo actual harm, with potential for more than minimal harm
GIsolatedActual harm that is not immediate jeopardy
HPatternActual harm that is not immediate jeopardy
IWidespreadActual harm that is not immediate jeopardy
JIsolatedImmediate jeopardy to resident health or safety
KPatternImmediate jeopardy to resident health or safety
LWidespreadImmediate jeopardy to resident health or safety

Immediate jeopardy is J, K, or L. Actual harm that is not immediate jeopardy is G, H, or I. A citation can also be marked corrected, past non-compliance, or still under informal dispute resolution. Dispute status is a column on the citation, and citations still in that process are posted but kept out of the star-rating calculation until the dispute ends.

Administration Deficiencies

Environmental Deficiencies

Freedom from Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Deficiencies

Infection Control Deficiencies

Nursing and Physician Services Deficiencies

Nutrition and Dietary Deficiencies

Pharmacy Service Deficiencies

Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies

Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies

Resident Rights Deficiencies

Questions

What is an F-tag?

An F-tag is the code surveyors use when a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified nursing home is out of compliance with a federal health requirement. The code, such as F880, identifies the requirement. The Health Deficiencies file also prints a short description of that requirement.

Does a citation mean the problem is still present?

A citation records what surveyors found on a survey date. The file includes a correction status and, when CMS has one, a correction date. Families should ask the home and the state survey agency what the current status is.

Why do some tag numbers look unused?

CMS revised the F-tag numbering when Appendix PP was rewritten. This glossary includes only tags that have at least one row in the current Health Deficiencies file, including older numbers that are still attached to surveys inside the rating window.

Where are fire-safety and emergency-preparedness tags?

Life Safety Code findings use K-tags, and emergency-preparedness findings use E-tags. Those series are not the health-deficiency tags in the file this glossary is built from. The Five-Star health inspection rating uses the health citations in that file.