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Key Takeaways
- F0880 — the rule requiring a basic infection prevention program — was cited 23,538 times and found in 96% of all cited facilities; this should be the first thing you look up on a facility's inspection report.
- 1,906 citations under F0881 mean nearly 1,700 facilities may lack a properly designated, trained infection preventionist — ask any facility you're considering who holds that role and what their qualifications are.
- F0883 (written infection control policies) was cited at 2,610 facilities; ask to see the facility's written infection control plan and when it was last updated.
- F0887 was cited 1,184 times for immunization program failures — ask the facility how it tracks and offers flu, COVID-19, and other vaccines to residents.
- These 31,260 citations span 12,246 facilities surveyed as of March 25, 2026; a facility not in this dataset may simply not have been surveyed recently, so always check the date of the most recent inspection.
A single federal rule — F0880, which requires nursing homes to maintain a basic infection prevention and control program — accounts for 23,538 of the 31,260 total infection-related citations recorded across U.S. nursing homes as of March 25, 2026. That one rule alone affected 11,803 facilities, meaning it showed up in 96% of the 12,246 facilities that received any infection citation at all. To put that in plain terms: if a nursing home got cited for infection control, it almost certainly got cited for F0880 specifically.
The remaining 7,722 citations are spread across seven other infection-related rules, none of which comes close to F0880's scale. That gap is striking — the second-most-cited rule, F0883 (which covers the facility's written infection control policies), logged 2,971 citations, roughly one-eighth of F0880's total. For families evaluating a facility, this data covers surveyed facilities only and reflects cumulative records through March 25, 2026, not a single inspection cycle.
F0880's dominance is lopsided in a way that should prompt specific questions. F0880 is the foundational rule: it requires every nursing home to have an active, functional infection prevention and control program — things like hand hygiene, isolation procedures, and staff training. Its 23,538 citations dwarf every other category combined. What makes this surprising isn't that it's common; it's *how* common. The next six rules together total only 4,945 citations. F0880 alone represents 75% of all infection citations in the dataset.
The second and third most-cited rules reveal a paperwork-and-oversight gap. F0883, with 2,971 citations across 2,610 facilities, covers whether a facility has a written infection control policy that staff actually follow. F0881, with 1,906 citations across 1,679 facilities, requires facilities to designate a trained infection preventionist — a staff member specifically responsible for overseeing infection control. Together, these two rules suggest that for thousands of facilities, the problem isn't just day-to-day practice (F0880) but also whether leadership structures and written protocols are in place at all. A facility cited under F0881 may not even have a qualified person running its infection program.
A small cluster of citations points to vaccine-specific failures. F0887, cited 1,184 times across 1,099 facilities, covers immunization programs — specifically offering residents vaccines like flu and COVID-19 shots and documenting their choices. F0882, with 848 citations across 794 facilities, relates to tuberculosis (TB) infection control requirements. These are narrower rules, but citations here mean a facility may not be consistently offering or tracking resident vaccinations, which matters directly for vulnerable residents.
The least-cited rules are still worth noting for what they cover. F0886 (343 citations, 342 facilities), F0888 (304 citations, 304 facilities), and F0885 (166 citations, 165 facilities) each appeared in roughly one facility per citation — suggesting these violations tend to be unique to individual facilities rather than widespread systemic failures. The data does not specify what each of these sub-rules covers beyond their F-tag numbers, so families should ask inspectors or review the full citation text if these appear in a specific facility's record.
How to Read This
- Infection Control (citations: F880, F883, F881, F887, F882, F886, F885)
- The facility did not consistently follow hygiene and sanitation practices that prevent the spread of infections, including proper hand-washing, isolation procedures, and equipment cleaning.
- F888
- A specific federal regulation cited during inspection. See CMS guidance for the full text of this requirement.
- Severity scale (A–L)
- CMS rates each citation A–L. A–C means no resident harm, D–F means potential for harm to residents, G–I means actual harm, and J–L means immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety.
Data source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Data as of 2026-03-25.
Helpful resources
How we built this: Every Senior Care Report Card insight is generated from the federal CMS Care Compare dataset and reviewed by our editorial team before publishing. We do not invent numbers, and we always tell you the date the data was collected. Read our methodology →