F332: Keep the rate of medication errors (wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong time) to less than 5%
F332 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Keep the rate of medication errors (wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong time) to less than 5%.
It sits in CMS's pharmacy service 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 F332 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: D 1.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F332 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, July 13, 2017, scope and severity DBased on observations, clinical record reviews and staff interview the facility failed to ensure that its medication error rates were not 5% or greater. A medication administration observation pass was conducted to include 27 opportunities, with 2 medication errors resulting in a 7.40% error rate, involving 2 residents, Residents #18 and #19. 1. The nurse failed to shake the drug Megace (an appetite stimulant) that was in a liquid suspension form for Resident #18 prior to administration. 2. The nurse failed to administer a 20 mEq (milieu) potassium tablet before dinner as ordered for Resident #19.
Portsmouth Health and Rehab, Portsmouth, VA
Most recent F332 citations
| Inspection | Home | Town | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 13, 2017 | Portsmouth Health and Rehab | Portsmouth, VA | D |
F332 citations by state
Counts depend on how many homes a state has and how often its inspectors visit, so a larger number is not by itself a worse record.
| State | Citations |
|---|---|
| Virginia | 1 |
By inspection year: 2017 1.
Common questions
- What is F332 in a nursing home inspection?
- F332 is the federal requirement to "keep the rate of medication errors (wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong time) to less than 5%". CMS files it under pharmacy service. A home cited under F332 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F332 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 1 F332 citations at 1 nursing homes, 0 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.0% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F332 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F332 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