F868: Have the Quality Assessment and Assurance group have the required members and meet at least quarterly
F868 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Have the Quality Assessment and Assurance group have the required members and meet at least quarterly
It sits in CMS's administration 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). 7.7% of F868 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: B 22, C 65, D 297, E 225, F 413, H 2.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F868 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, July 17, 2026, scope and severity EBased on record review and interview, it was determined that the facility failed to maintain and account for scheduled Quality Assessment and Assurance meetings. This was evident for 5 of the 11 months QAA meetings were held July 2025- June 2026.
Autumn Lake Healthcare at Homewood, Baltimore, MD
Inspectors wrote, July 16, 2026, scope and severity EBased on interview and record review the facility failed to maintain a quality assessment and assurance committee consisting at a minimum of the required committee members of 10 of 11 meetings reviewed for QAPI. The facility failed to ensure the MD, or a representative attended the QAPI meetings in September 2025, October 2025, November 2025, December 2025, January 2026, February 2026, March 2026, April 2026, May 2026, and June 2026. This failure could place residents at risk for quality deficiencies being unidentified, no appropriate plans of action developed and implemented and no appropriate guidance developed.
Avir at Granbury, Granbury, TX
Inspectors wrote, July 16, 2026, scope and severity FBased on facility records, interviews, and the facility Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) Plan the facility failed to ensure all required staff or a designee attended quarterly QAPI meetings and that the Infection Preventionist provided relevant infection control information to the committee. The facility reported a census of 31 residents.
Virginia Gay Nursing & Rehab, LLC, Vinton, IA
Most recent F868 citations at the harm or jeopardy level
Newest first, all 2 in the current files. Each home's page shows the citation in full context, with its correction status.
| Inspection | Home | Town | Letter | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 31, 2022 | Mountain View Health Services | Ogden, UT | H | Standard |
| April 13, 2022 | Spring Creek Healthcare Center | Salt Lake City, UT | H | Standard |
Most recent F868 citations
F868 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 3, 2019 29, 2020 5, 2021 23, 2022 95, 2023 185, 2024 293, 2025 251, 2026 140.
Common questions
- What is F868 in a nursing home inspection?
- F868 is the federal requirement to "have the quality assessment and assurance group have the required members and meet at least quarterly". CMS files it under administration. A home cited under F868 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F868 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 1,024 F868 citations at 933 nursing homes, 192 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.2% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F868 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F868 citations (91.3%) 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