F281: Ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality
F281 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality.
It sits in CMS's quality of life and care category.
CMS Health Deficiencies file, data as of September 1, 2026. The files hold each home's last three standard inspections and three years of complaint visits.
How seriously inspectors rate it
Every citation gets a letter for how much harm inspectors found and how many residents it touched (how to read the letters). 0.0% of F281 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: D 3.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F281 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, November 9, 2017, scope and severity DBased on staff interview, clinical record review, and facility documentation review, the facility staff failed to follow the professional standards of practice for documentation of medication administration for 1 resident (Resident #8) in the survey sample of 24 residents. For Resident #8, the facility staff failed to document the administration of a dietary supplement on two occasions in August, 2017.
Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Colonial Heights, VA
Most recent F281 citations
| Inspection | Home | Town | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 16, 2017 | Ashland Place Health and Rehabilitation, LLC | Mobile, AL | D |
| November 9, 2017 | Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center | Colonial Heights, VA | D |
| September 21, 2017 | Albertville Nursing Home | Albertville, AL | D |
Common questions
- What is F281 in a nursing home inspection?
- F281 is the federal requirement to "ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality". CMS files it under quality of life and care. A home cited under F281 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F281 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 3 F281 citations at 3 nursing homes, 0 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.0% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F281 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F281 citations (100.0%) were rated as potential for more than minimal harm, D to F. None in the current files is at the immediate jeopardy level.
The interpretive guidance inspectors use for each F-tag is CMS's State Operations Manual, Appendix PP. NursingHomeClear reports the citations as CMS records them and is not affiliated with CMS. All F-tags · Methodology