How do I check a nursing home's inspection record?
State inspectors visit every Medicare nursing home without warning. Their findings are public. How to find them on PlanScout, how to read a citation, and what to ask the home.
Who inspects nursing homes?
State inspectors check every nursing home that takes Medicare or Medicaid. The visits are not announced. Federal law says each home gets a standard inspection no later than 15 months after the last one. The average across each state can't be more than 12 months.
When inspectors find a home did not meet a rule, they write a citation. Medicare also calls this a deficiency.
Step by step on PlanScout
1. Open our nursing home finder and enter your parent's ZIP code.
2. Open a home's page. The safety record is first. It shows fines, payment denials, citations where a resident was harmed, the most serious citations (immediate jeopardy), any abuse flag from Medicare, and complaints, next to the state average.
3. Open the list of citations to read what happened and when.
4. Compare a few homes the same way. See an example nursing home page to know what to look for.
How to read a citation
Each citation gets a letter from A to L. The letter shows two things: how serious the problem was, and how many residents it affected or could affect.
There are four levels, from least to most serious. First, a risk of small harm. Next, a risk of more than small harm. Then real harm. Last is immediate jeopardy. It means the problem caused serious harm or death, or is likely to.
How many: isolated means one or a very few residents. A pattern means more than a very few. Widespread means the problem runs through the whole home.
The table below shows which letters mean what. One old, minor citation means less than a recent pattern of harm.
Special Focus Facilities
Medicare keeps a short list of homes with a history of serious quality problems. They are called Special Focus Facilities, and they get inspected more often. Our pages show this flag when Medicare has set it.
Questions to ask the home
What happened in your most recent citations, and what did you fix? Who is in charge of fixing it? Can I see your latest inspection report? It is fine to ask these in person and to get answers in writing.
If you see a problem after your parent moves in, you can report a problem with a care facility.
| How serious | Isolated | Pattern | Widespread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate jeopardy | J | K | L |
| Real harm | G | H | I |
| Risk of more than small harm | D | E | F |
| Risk of small harm | A | B | C |
Source: Medicare State Operations Manual, chapter 7 (revised June 26, 2026).
Checklist
- Look up each home on PlanScout's nursing home finder.
- Read the safety record first: harm, immediate jeopardy, fines, abuse flag.
- Compare with the state average on the same page.
- Open the citations and note the letter and the date.
- Ask the home what it fixed after its last inspection.
- Visit more than once, at different times of day.
Common questions
How often are nursing homes inspected?
Federal law says each home gets a standard inspection no later than 15 months after the last one. The average across each state can't be more than 12 months. The visits are not announced.
What does a citation letter like G or J mean?
G, H and I mean a resident was actually harmed. J, K and L mean immediate jeopardy, the most serious level. Letters earlier in the alphabet are less serious.
Is one citation a reason to rule out a home?
Not by itself. Look at how serious it was, how many residents it affected, how recent it was, and what the home changed.
Where do PlanScout's inspection numbers come from?
From Medicare's public nursing home data. Each home's page shows the source and the date we last loaded it.
Do you know what to do next?
Sources
- Written by
- The PlanScout team. Updated Oct 26, 2026.
- Corrections
- See something wrong? Tell us. We fix confirmed errors within 2 business days and note the change in the page's change log.
Sources (3)
- cms.gov — State Operations Manual, chapter 7: survey and enforcement for nursing homes (PDF) (retrieved Oct 26, 2026)
- U.S. Code — 42 U.S.C. 1395i-3(g)(2): nursing home survey frequency (Cornell LII copy) (retrieved Oct 26, 2026)
- cms.gov — Nursing homes: certification and compliance (retrieved Oct 26, 2026)
This guide is general information, not medical, legal, or financial advice. Confirm details with the provider, your plan, or a licensed professional.