Top Survey Deficiencies Q1-2026

Top Survey Deficiencies Q1-2026

The top survey tag for Quarter 1 of 2026 was F880 Infection Prevention and Control, followed by F689 Free of Accident Hazards/Supervision/Devices.  Read on for details on the most commonly cited issues in these tags….

 

 

Top Survey Deficiencies for Quarter 1 2026 included:

 

Tag #	Tag Description	# Citations	% Providers Cited	% Surveys Cited
Totals represent the # of providers and surveys    Active Providers:   Total Number of Surveys: that meet the Selection criteria                                     =14,720                                   =12,496
F0880	Infection Prevention & Control	1523	10.2%	12.2%
F0689	Free of Accident Hazards/Supervision/Devices	1186	7.8%	9.5%
F0812	Food Procurement, Store/Prepare/Serve Sanitary	1081	7.3%	8.7%
F0684	Quality of Care	969	6.4%	7.8%
F0761	Label/Store Drugs & Biologicals	834	5.6%	6.7%

 

 

 

The most commonly cited issues related to these tags included:

 

F880: Infection Prevention and Control

During the first quarter, providers continued to see outbreaks of the typical winter/early spring respiratory and GI conditions of Flu, Norovirus, and a continuation of COVID.   Key areas to monitor include:

• • Facilities must ensure their policies and procedures for testing and outbreak management with Transmission Based Precaution (TBP) are consistently in place and followed.
  • Vigilant observation of correct hand sanitation and use of PPE is essential to help maintain staff compliance and to increase their comfort level with being watched by the State Survey Agency.
  • Proper identification of rooms with TBP in place must be posted along with the supplies necessary to follow the precaution specifications.

 

F689: Free of Accident Hazards/Supervision/Devices

The trend continued with Falls as a top area of survey deficiencies during the first quarter—in addition to being a primary focus area for long term care litigation.  Key areas to monitor include:

• • Processes for “Root Cause Analysis” to ensure that care plan interventions address identified risks and contributing factors post fall to the underlying origin of the fall.
  • Each resident fall must have a corresponding analysis with the appropriate intervention, and Interventions must be communicated and consistently implemented for residents, along with frequent monitoring for effectiveness.

 

F812: Food Procurement, Store/Prepare/Serve Sanitary

F 812 has been on the list of top 10 deficiencies for many years running.  This tag incorporates all aspects of dietary sanitation and staff adherence to safe food preparation practices.  Proper storage and labeling of opened food/drink items is one of the most common issues identified in this citation.  Key areas to monitor include:

• • Education for the dietary staff must address placing opened food/drink items into the proper container or wrapping materials and labeling/dating them before placing them back in the refrigerator/freezer or dry storage area.
  • Correct hand hygiene and use of gloves is also vital in this department.

 

F684 Quality of Care

F684 is most commonly used for staff failure to adhere to standards of practice.  A variety of issues cited as F684 arise from not adequately assessing and notifying the MD of a resident change in condition which could lead to not implementing CPR correctly when indicated, to not monitoring lab values when indicated, and/or failing to follow facility policies, monitor and report vital signs findings, and failure to use an SBAR.  Key areas to monitor include:

• • Verifying licensed nurse competencies upon hire and annually thereafter

 

F761 Label/Store Drugs and Biologicals

Medication carts and med rooms are often overlooked as areas that benefit from consistent QA monitoring Not only must all routes of medications be stored, labeled, and dated correctly, but all other testing and treatment items stored in these areas must be maintained in compliance.  Syringes, needles, dressings, wound cleansers, COVID tests, specimen collection containers, vacutainer tubes, and even ambu-bags have expiration dates that must be monitored.  Failure to remove/replace these items when they expire may leaded to citations under this tag.  Nursing staff also have a tendency to organize by consolidating items from multiple boxes into one.  This can be problematic when each box has a different expiration date, and older expiration dates are not used first.

 

 

 

Next Steps:

Knowing the recent and past survey citation trends and the issues being cited is critical to preventing these deficiencies during the survey process.  For more survey preparation and deficiency prevention information join us for the DON Playbook webinar series and schedule a Mock Survey with Proactive as part of your facility QAPI process.

 

 

 

Written By:

 

 

Janine Lehman, RN, RAC-CT, CLNC

Director of Clinical Services

Proactive LTC Consulting