F635: Provide doctor's orders for the resident's immediate care at the time the resident was admitted
F635 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Provide doctor's orders for the resident's immediate care at the time the resident was admitted.
It sits in CMS's resident assessment and care planning 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). 50.9% of F635 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: B 1, D 192, E 10, G 4, J 8, K 5.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F635 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, July 10, 2026, scope and severity DBased on observation, interview, and record review, the facility failed to ensure at the time each resident is admitted , the facility had physician orders for the resident's immediate care for 1 of 8 residents (Resident #29) reviewed for new admissions. The facility failed to ensure Resident #29 had an order in place to provide catheter care for an indwelling urinary catheter. This failure could lead to residents not receiving necessary care.
Sonterra Health Center, San Antonio, TX
Inspectors wrote, July 9, 2026, scope and severity DBased on interview and record review, the facility failed to ensure newly admitted resident's had orders in place for ostomy and implanted port care, for 1 of 2 residents reviewed for ostomy and implanted port care. (Resident B)
Good Samaritan Home & Rehabilitative Center, Oakland City, IN
Inspectors wrote, June 22, 2026, scope and severity DBased on review of clinical records and facility policy, and staff interviews, it was determined the facility failed to ensure physician medication orders were entered in the clinical record upon admission for the resident's immediate care needs for one of one residents (Resident R1).
Fairview Manor, Fairview, PA
Most recent F635 citations at the harm or jeopardy level
Newest first, all 17 in the current files. Each home's page shows the citation in full context, with its correction status.
| Inspection | Home | Town | Letter | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 17, 2025 | Hackett Hill Healthcare Center | Manchester, NH | G | Complaint |
| November 19, 2025 | Springfield Health & Rehab | Springfield, VT | K | Complaint |
| August 2, 2025 | Space Coast Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center | Merritt Island, FL | J | Complaint |
| July 3, 2025 | Town Hall Estates - Arlington, Inc. | Arlington, TX | J | Standard |
| May 8, 2025 | Brownsville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center | Brownsville, TX | K | Complaint |
| February 12, 2025 | Focused Care at Linden | Linden, TX | K | Standard |
| October 31, 2024 | The Dawn Hill Home for Rehab and Healthcare | Bristol, RI | G | Complaint |
| August 10, 2024 | Golden Haven Care Center | Glendale, CA | J | Complaint |
| May 10, 2024 | Montrose Springs Skilled Nursing & Wellness Center | Montrose, CA | G | Complaint |
| April 23, 2024 | Focused Care at Burnet Bay | Baytown, TX | J | Complaint |
| January 27, 2024 | St. Anthony's Nsg & Rehab Ctr | Rock Island, IL | G | Complaint |
| January 8, 2024 | Corpus Christi Nursing and Rehabilitation Center | Corpus Christi, TX | J | Complaint |
| December 27, 2023 | Avir at Meadow Creek | San Angelo, TX | K | Complaint |
| November 17, 2023 | Avante at Melbourne Inc | Melbourne, FL | J | Complaint |
| October 12, 2023 | The Springs Healthcare and Rehabilitation | Cedar Park, TX | J | Complaint |
| August 10, 2023 | Wilmington Nursing & Rehabilitation Center | Wilmington, DE | J | Standard |
| March 7, 2023 | Corinth Rehabilitation Suites on the Parkway | Corinth, TX | K | Standard |
Most recent F635 citations
F635 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.
By inspection year: 2018 1, 2019 6, 2020 1, 2021 4, 2022 12, 2023 42, 2024 59, 2025 60, 2026 35.
Common questions
- What is F635 in a nursing home inspection?
- F635 is the federal requirement to "provide doctor's orders for the resident's immediate care at the time the resident was admitted". CMS files it under resident assessment and care planning. A home cited under F635 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F635 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 220 F635 citations at 210 nursing homes, 51 of them in the 12 months to that date. 7.7% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F635 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F635 citations (91.8%) were rated as potential for more than minimal harm, D to F. 13 were immediate jeopardy, the most serious 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