F431: Maintain drug records and properly mark/label drugs and other similar products according to accepted professional standards
F431 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Maintain drug records and properly mark/label drugs and other similar products according to accepted professional standards.
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 F431 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: D 5.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F431 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 observation, staff interview, and facility documentation review, the facility staff failed to ensure biologicals and medications were stored appropriately on three of three units. 1. On The [NAME] Unit , one PPD (purified protein derivative) dated as opened [DATE] was available for administration to Residents. A second vial was opened with no date when opened. PPD is only good for 30 days after opened and accessed; 2. On the [NAME] Unit, a vial of flu vaccine was opened without a date. 3. On the [NAME] unit, two vials of flu vaccine was open without a date.
Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Colonial Heights, VA
Most recent F431 citations
| Inspection | Home | Town | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 9, 2017 | Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center | Colonial Heights, VA | D |
| September 8, 2017 | Chesapeake Health and Rehabilitation Center | Chesapeake, VA | D |
| August 17, 2017 | Norfolk Health Care Center | Norfolk, VA | D |
| August 10, 2017 | Nans Pointe Rehabilitation and Nursing | Suffolk, VA | D |
| July 13, 2017 | Portsmouth Health and Rehab | Portsmouth, VA | D |
F431 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 | 5 |
By inspection year: 2017 5.
Common questions
- What is F431 in a nursing home inspection?
- F431 is the federal requirement to "maintain drug records and properly mark/label drugs and other similar products according to accepted professional standards". CMS files it under pharmacy service. A home cited under F431 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F431 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 5 F431 citations at 5 nursing homes, 0 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.0% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F431 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F431 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