F810: Provide special eating equipment and utensils for residents who need them and appropriate assistance
F810 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Provide special eating equipment and utensils for residents who need them and appropriate assistance.
It sits in CMS's nutrition and dietary 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). 14.6% of F810 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: D 534, E 40, F 1.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F810 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, July 30, 2026, scope and severity EBased on medical record review, observation, staff interview, and facility policy review, the facility failed to ensure residents were provided with adaptive equipment to maintain independence. This affected three residents (Residents #29, #80 and #86) of four residents who received adaptive equipment for drinking. The facility census was 95.
Avenue at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, OH
Inspectors wrote, July 30, 2026, scope and severity DBased on observation, interview, and document review, the facility failed to ensure adaptive equipment was provided for 1 of 1 resident (R12) who required weighted utensils and two-handled cups to encourage and promote self-feeding.
Martin Luther Care Center, Bloomington, MN
Inspectors wrote, July 29, 2026, scope and severity DBased on observations, interviews, and record reviews, the facility failed to provide special eating equipment and utensils for residents who need them and appropriate assistance to ensure that the resident can use the assistive devices when consuming meals for 1 of 6 residents reviewed (Resident #46) for special eating equipment and assistance when consuming meals. The facility failed to provide Resident #46's physician ordered sip cup on 07/27/2026 during his lunch meal. This failure could place residents at risk for dehydration, diminished independence, and self-esteem.
Most recent F810 citations
F810 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 8, 2019 19, 2020 5, 2021 16, 2022 46, 2023 96, 2024 159, 2025 137, 2026 89.
Common questions
- What is F810 in a nursing home inspection?
- F810 is the federal requirement to "provide special eating equipment and utensils for residents who need them and appropriate assistance". CMS files it under nutrition and dietary. A home cited under F810 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F810 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 575 F810 citations at 545 nursing homes, 118 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.0% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F810 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F810 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