Survey deficiency reference · Router

Which Tag Is Pest Control?

A pest finding is cited under a different identifier in every regime, and in two of them there is no pest-specific identifier at all. Find your facility type below; each entry links to the page that carries the verbatim text, what surveyors look for, and the plan-of-correction structure.

If the number on your paperwork is not in this list, it may not exist. The most common example is A-0758, which does not appear in the CMS hospital manual. Read the regulation text printed beneath the tag on your Form CMS-2567; the regulation, not the tag number, is what the plan of correction answers.

• Nursing home (skilled nursing facility or nursing facility, 42 CFR Part 483)

  F925

  42 CFR §483.90(i)(4)

  Explicit mandate

  “Maintain an effective pest control program so that the facility is free of pests and rodents.” CMS defines the program and names the pests (bed bugs, lice, roaches, ants, mosquitoes, flies, mice, and rats). Kitchen findings also route here from F812.

  Plan of correction for F925

• Hospital (42 CFR Part 482)

  A-0701 or A-0724, or A-0750

  42 CFR §482.41(a) or §482.41(d)(2) (physical environment); 42 CFR §482.42(a)(3) (clean and sanitary environment)

  No explicit pest tag exists

  Appendix A Rev. 238 contains zero occurrences of pest, vermin, rodent, insect, or infestation. Physical-plant findings are written at A-0701 or A-0724; a finding framed as infection control is written at A-0750, far more often than at A-0749. A-0758 is not a tag.

  A-0724 (with A-0722, Facilities)A-0750 (clean and sanitary environment)A-0758 does not exist

• Clinic, rehabilitation agency, or public health agency furnishing outpatient physical therapy or speech-language pathology services (42 CFR Part 485, Subpart H)

  §485.725(e)

  42 CFR §485.725(e), Standard: Pest control

  Explicit mandate

  “The organization’s premises are maintained free from insects and rodents through operation of a pest-control program.” Comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities have a parallel provision at §485.62(b)(4).

• Critical access hospital (42 CFR Part 485, Subpart F)

  No explicit standard

  42 CFR §485.623(b), Standard: Maintenance (“The premises are clean and orderly”)

  By inference only

  Part 485 is widely read as the CAH rule, but the explicit pest standard in it is in Subpart H, not Subpart F. A CAH pest finding is written by inference under the maintenance standard, as a hospital finding is under §482.41.

• Joint Commission-accredited hospital

  PE.01.01.01

  Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals, Physical Environment chapter (effective January 1, 2026)

  Accreditor standard; no pest-specific Element of Performance

  Identifier and publicly stated requirement only: the standard for a safe, adequate environment, successor to EC.02.06.01. The standard text is proprietary and is not reproduced on this reference.

  PE.02.01.01 EP 4 (pesticide storage)

• VA medical facility (Veterans Health Administration)

  VHA Directive 1850.02

  Pest Management Operations Program, December 22, 2022

  Explicit federal directive

  Mandatory Integrated Pest Management Operations Plan, a designated Pest Management Officer, prior approval for applications in patient care and restricted areas, 48-hour response to sightings. Reviewed internally, not by CMS tag.

• Food service areas in any facility

  FDA Food Code 6-501.111

  FDA Food Code 2022, §6-501.111 Controlling Pests (as adopted by the state)

  Explicit requirement, applied by the state food inspector

  Four-part requirement: inspect incoming shipments, inspect the premises, use control methods when pests are found (Priority Foundation), and eliminate harborage. Applies alongside the CMS tag for the same kitchen.

Why the Regimes Differ

Only two federal Conditions of Participation name pests: the long-term care requirement at 42 CFR §483.90(i)(4) and the outpatient physical therapy provider standard at 42 CFR §485.725(e) (with a parallel provision for comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities at §485.62(b)(4)). The hospital condition, 42 CFR Part 482, and its surveyor manual contain no pest vocabulary, so hospital surveyors write pest observations to the physical-environment and sanitary-environment tags by inference. The Joint Commission's physical environment chapter has no pest-specific Element of Performance. The VA, as an operator rather than a regulator, wrote its own directive. The Food Code is the one document in the list that describes, in a food area, what a pest control program has to do, which is why it is applied to hospital and nursing home kitchens alongside the CMS tag. Every statement above is drawn from the primary source quoted on the linked page.