CMS Survey Data

Older Nursing Homes Get More Equipment Citations: What 40+ Year-Old Buildings Need

Many skilled nursing facilities have served their communities for decades. Their age shows up in CMS survey data, especially for equipment and electrical deficiencies.

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Equipment Citations by Years Since Medicare Certification

Years certifiedNursing homesCited for equipmentCited for electrical
<10 yrs62946.4%35.5%
10-24 yrs2,56646.2%37.1%
25-39 yrs6,44551.6%42.8%
40+ yrs5,05057.2%49.3%

The pattern is steady: the longer a facility has been operating, the more likely it was cited for an equipment or electrical deficiency.

Why Older Facilities Struggle

  • Fewer outlets than today's equipment needs. Rooms built for a bed and a lamp now hold air mattresses, pumps, concentrators and personal electronics, which leads to power strips and extension cords (K920).
  • Aging receptacles and wiring lose grounding and retention (K912, K914).
  • Older equipment fleets. Long-serving beds, lifts and concentrators fail more often and parts get harder to find.
  • Records spread across decades and many maintenance directors.

A Plan for Older Buildings

  1. Have a biomedical technician inventory and assess every patient care device, including age and repair history.
  2. Test bedside receptacles along with equipment.
  3. Replace power strips with compliant solutions and add outlets where rooms need them.
  4. Budget a repair-vs-replace plan for the oldest beds, lifts and concentrators. See repair vs. replacement.

Why Equipment Safety Needs a Qualified Biomedical Technician

Equipment problems in a nursing home are resident-safety problems first and survey problems second. An electric bed with a failing motor or loose rail can entrap or drop a resident. A patient lift with a worn sling bar or weak battery can fail mid-transfer, and transfer falls cause serious injuries. An oxygen concentrator that drifts out of spec delivers less oxygen than ordered. An infusion pump or monitor with electrical leakage can shock a resident connected to it. A qualified biomedical technician catches these failures before they reach a resident: calibrated test equipment, manufacturer procedures, electrical safety testing, and a written record for every device. General maintenance staff and handymen don't have the tools or training to do that, and surveyors know the difference.

Free tools: look up any nursing home's equipment citations and next survey window, or estimate your maintenance program.

Source: Medical Equipment Repair Network analysis of the CMS Provider Data Catalog, Nursing Homes: Fire Safety Deficiencies and Provider Information (processed September 2026), survey dates September 2023 to August 2026. Equipment citations = electrical tags K911, K912, K914, K919, K920, K921 plus oxygen/medical gas tags K923, K926, K927, K929. These are associations, not proof of cause.

Request a free quote for equipment repair, preventive maintenance or electrical safety testing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Facilities certified 40 or more years ago were cited for equipment deficiencies at 57.2%, compared with 46.4% for facilities certified less than 10 years ago.
Rooms often have too few outlets for modern equipment, which leads to power strips and extension cords, and older receptacles and wiring can lose grounding.
Have a qualified biomedical technician inventory and test all patient care equipment and bedside receptacles, then build a repair-vs-replace plan for the oldest devices.