F696: Provide appropriate care/assistance for a resident with a prosthesis
F696 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Provide appropriate care/assistance for a resident with a prosthesis.
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). 21.1% of F696 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: C 1, D 16, E 1, F 1.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F696 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, May 22, 2026, scope and severity DBased on review of clinical records, select facility policy, and staff interviews, it was determined the facility failed to ensure a resident with a prosthetic device received the necessary care and services to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical well-being, consistent with professional standards of practice, for 1 of 29 residents reviewed (Resident 10).
Stroudsburg Post Acute Nursing & Rehabilitationllc, Stroudsburg, PA
Inspectors wrote, April 24, 2025, scope and severity DBased on observation, interview, and record review, the facility failed to ensure 1 of 1 sampled resident (Resident 31) reviewed for prosthesis (an artificial limb designed to replace the function of an amputated or missing arm or leg) received the care and assistance required to be able to use the prosthesis. This failure placed the resident at risk for decreased mobility and balance, delayed discharge from the facility to the community, and a diminished quality of life.
Spokane Health & Rehabilitation, Spokane, WA
Inspectors wrote, March 7, 2025, scope and severity DThe facility failed to ensure resident # 26 was provided care and assistance, to aid in the preparation of the left prosthetic device readiness. This deficient practice can result in resident deconditioning, adversely impacting prosthetic device use.
Payson Care Center, Payson, AZ
Most recent F696 citations
F696 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 |
|---|---|
| Arizona | 2 |
| Minnesota | 2 |
| New York | 2 |
| Ohio | 2 |
| Puerto Rico | 2 |
| California | 1 |
| Illinois | 1 |
| Kansas | 1 |
| Michigan | 1 |
| North Carolina | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 1 |
| Texas | 1 |
| Virginia | 1 |
| Washington | 1 |
By inspection year: 2021 1, 2022 3, 2023 2, 2024 9, 2025 3, 2026 1.
Common questions
- What is F696 in a nursing home inspection?
- F696 is the federal requirement to "provide appropriate care/assistance for a resident with a prosthesis". CMS files it under quality of life and care. A home cited under F696 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F696 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 19 F696 citations at 19 nursing homes, 1 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.0% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F696 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F696 citations (94.7%) 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