F712: Ensure that the resident and his/her doctor meet face-to-face at all required visits
F712 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Ensure that the resident and his/her doctor meet face-to-face at all required visits.
It sits in CMS's nursing and physician services 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). 29.6% of F712 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: B 8, C 2, D 285, E 154, F 10.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F712 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, July 29, 2026, scope and severity EBased on record review, interview, and policy review, the provider failed to ensure that required physician visits (every 30 days for the first 90 days after the resident's admission and every 60 days thereafter) were alternated between personal visits by the physician and by the physician assistant (PA) after the physician makes the initial comprehensive visit for residents under a SNF stay (skilled nursing care covered by Medicare part A) for four of four sampled residents (4, 8, 29, and 43) who had SNF stays at the facility in the period reviewed from 7/4/25 through 7/29/26.
Aurora Brule Nursing Home Inc, White Lake, SD
Inspectors wrote, July 17, 2026, scope and severity DBased on review of clinical records, as well as staff interviews, it was determined that the facility failed to ensure a physician completed the initial comprehensive visit for two of five residents (Residents R1 and R2).
Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Kittanning, PA
Inspectors wrote, July 10, 2026, scope and severity DBased on interview and record review, the facility failed to ensure one of one sampled resident (Resident 48) was evaluated by the physician at least every 60 days and documented in the resident's clinical records. This deficient practice had the potential for a delay in the assessment of Resident 48's medical condition and receiving necessary care and treatment.
Primrose Post-Acute, Inglewood, CA
Most recent F712 citations
F712 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 2, 2019 12, 2020 3, 2021 16, 2022 23, 2023 71, 2024 132, 2025 138, 2026 62.
Common questions
- What is F712 in a nursing home inspection?
- F712 is the federal requirement to "ensure that the resident and his/her doctor meet face-to-face at all required visits". CMS files it under nursing and physician services. A home cited under F712 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F712 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 459 F712 citations at 431 nursing homes, 86 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.0% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F712 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F712 citations (97.8%) 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