Quality of Care42 CFR §483.25(b)

F0686 — Treatment/Svcs to Prevent/Heal Pressure Ulcers

F0686 requires facilities to provide care and treatment to prevent new pressure ulcers from developing and to promote healing of existing ones, based on a resident's comprehensive assessment. It's one of the most frequently cited tags nationally because pressure ulcer development is closely tied to documentable, auditable care processes — repositioning, nutrition, moisture management, and risk assessment.

Common Deficiency Examples

New pressure ulcer developing in a resident who was assessed as high-risk without a corresponding prevention plan in place
Repositioning schedule not followed or not documented consistently
Delayed identification or staging of a developing ulcer
Treatment plan not adjusted despite a wound not improving on the existing protocol

What Your Plan of Correction Needs

F0686 PoCs are scrutinized closely because pressure ulcers are considered largely preventable with proper care. Strong PoCs typically include:

Wound-specific factsstaging, location, and timeline for the affected resident(s), without generalizing

Immediate treatment adjustmentcurrent wound care plan and any physician/wound-care consult obtained

Systemic fixusually a risk-assessment or repositioning-compliance gap — specify which

Monitoring planskin audits at a defined frequency, tied to your QAPI wound tracking if you have one

See the four required elements of every Plan of Correction →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is every pressure ulcer automatically a citation?+

No — surveyors look at whether the ulcer was avoidable given the resident's clinical risk factors and whether appropriate preventive care was in place, not simply whether an ulcer occurred.

How is F0686 different from F0685?+

F0685 covers treatment/care for dependent ADLs generally; F0686 is specific to pressure ulcer prevention and treatment. They can be cited together if both apply.