Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities

This page provides basic information about being certified as a Medicare and/or Medicaid Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility (CORF) provider and includes links to applicable laws, regulations, and compliance information.

CORFs must provide coordinated outpatient diagnostic, therapeutic, and restorative services, at a single fixed location, to outpatients for the rehabilitation of injured, disabled or sick individuals.  Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology services may be provided in an off-site location. 

The following are considered “core” services that a CORF must provide:

• consultation with and medical supervision of non-physician staff, establishment and review of the plan of treatment and other medical and facility administration activities
• physical therapy services, social or psychological services
• CORFs are surveyed every six years at a minimum.

Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities

Survey protocols and Interpretive Guidelines are established to provide guidance to personnel conducting surveys.  They serve to clarify and/or explain the intent of the regulations and allsurveyors are required to use them in assessing compliance with Federal requirements. The purpose of the protocols and guidelines is to direct the surveyor’s attention to certain avenues for investigation in preparation for the survey, in conducting the survey, and in evaluation of the survey findings.

The Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (CORF) survey is conducted in accordance with the appropriate protocols and substantive requirements in the statute and regulations to determine whether a citation of non-compliance is appropriate.  Deficiencies are based on a violation of the statute or regulations, which, in turn, is to be based on observations of the CORF’s performance or practices. 

The Interpretive Guidelines include three parts:

• The first part contains the survey tag number. 
• The second part contains the wording of the regulation. 
• The third part contains guidance to surveyors, including additional survey procedures and probes.