F886: Perform COVID19 testing on residents and staff
F886 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Perform COVID19 testing on residents and staff.
It sits in CMS's infection control 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). 0.0% of F886 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: C 3, D 58, E 92, F 61, J 1, K 1, L 12.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F886 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, May 4, 2023, scope and severity DBased on observation, staff interview, and facility documentation review, the facility staff failed to conduct COVID-19 testing in accordance with CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) guidance/requirements during a COVID-19 Outbreak within the facility for 2 out of 3 residential nursing units.
Johnson Cntr/Falcons Landing, Potomac Falls, VA
Inspectors wrote, May 3, 2023, scope and severity FLicensure Reference Number 175NAC 12-006.17 Based on record review and interview the facility failed to ensure that Covid-19 testing was completed as required to prevent the potential for Covid-19 infection. This had the potential to affect all facility residents. The facility census was 40.
Adept Nursing & Rehab of Blue Hill, Blue Hill, NE
Inspectors wrote, May 3, 2023, scope and severity EBased on record review and interview, the facility failed to implement requirements relative to outbreak testing and return to work testing criteria, in order to prevent the spread of infection, when the facility experienced an outbreak of COVID-19. Specifically, the facility failed to: 1. Initiate outbreak testing timely for one staff (Nurse #2), out of three sampled staff, 2. Complete outbreak testing every 48 hours until the facility went 7 days without a new case for three Residents (#17, #33 and #46), out of a sample of three residents, and 3. Document a negative test result for one staff member (Employee #1) prior to his/her return to work after testing positive for COVID-19.
Lydia Taft House, Uxbridge, MA
Most recent F886 citations at the harm or jeopardy level
Newest first, all 14 in the current files. Each home's page shows the citation in full context, with its correction status.
| Inspection | Home | Town | Letter | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 27, 2023 | Troy Hills Center | Parsippany, NJ | K | Standard |
| January 13, 2023 | Accelerate Skilled Nursing and Rehab Piscataway | Piscataway, NJ | L | Standard |
| October 12, 2022 | Avant Rehabilitation and Care Center | Trenton, NJ | L | Standard |
| September 8, 2022 | New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home Menlo | Edison, NJ | L | Standard |
| September 1, 2022 | Charlwell House Health and Rehabilitation | Norwood, MA | L | Standard |
| June 16, 2022 | Manor Court of Peoria | Peoria, IL | L | Standard |
| May 25, 2022 | A.g. Rhodes Home, Inc - Cobb | Marietta, GA | J | Standard |
| May 10, 2022 | Complete Care at Shorrock | Brick, NJ | L | Standard |
| April 19, 2022 | Winding Trails Post Acute | Boulder, CO | L | Standard |
| January 18, 2022 | Ridgeview Post Acute | Commerce City, CO | L | Standard |
| January 14, 2022 | Musc Health Mullins Nursing Home | Mullins, SC | L | Standard |
| November 18, 2021 | Falcon Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing LLC | Colorado Springs, CO | L | Standard |
| September 30, 2021 | Birchwood Park Rehabilitation | Virginia Beach, VA | L | Standard |
| September 10, 2021 | Henrico Health & Rehabilitation Center | Highland Springs, VA | L | Standard |
Most recent F886 citations
F886 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: 2021 48, 2022 128, 2023 52.
Common questions
- What is F886 in a nursing home inspection?
- F886 is the federal requirement to "perform covid19 testing on residents and staff". CMS files it under infection control. A home cited under F886 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F886 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 228 F886 citations at 227 nursing homes, 0 of them in the 12 months to that date. 6.1% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F886 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F886 citations (92.5%) were rated as potential for more than minimal harm, D to F. 14 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