CORF (Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility) is a Medicare program first established by Congressional mandate in 1981. Its purpose was to provide a facility offering a variety of therapy based diagnostic and restorative services in an outpatient setting under one roof. While second only to a traditional hospital in the ability to offer a multitude of services under a single Medicare provider number, the CORF program has increasingly become a viable option for clinic expansion. Recent estimates place the number of existent CORF facilities at under 600.

 All services and therapies offered must be provided by a doctor, clinician or therapist, licensed to practice in the state in which the facility operates. Services offered in addition to the three mandated services are determined by factors having to do with local need, demand, and availability. Any additional services offered are done so at the sole determination of the facility administration and are not mandated under the regulations of the program. A CORFs ability to offer to the local community this multitude of services (as may be needed) and bill Medicare Part A under a single provider number sets this program apart from all other single-service programs. 

Yes. Until September 2001, the CORF program was one of the last of the cost-based accounting programs. Reimbursement for services provided was determined by a complex formula that factored all the costs associated with facility operation and service provision. The intent was to operate in a non-profit, break even manner that discouraged treatment of non-Medicare patients.

Day to day operation of the CORF is overseen by a facility administrator who is responsible for overall management, as well as implementation and enforcement of facility policy and procedure. The administrator bears responsibility for all staff and personnel providing facility services, and typically has a background in health care administration, including an appropriate degree as well as related clinical experience, such as nursing, PT, or OT. Actual medical procedures, treatment plans, and hands-on health care provision is overseen and supervised by the facility Medical Director. Facility operating days and hours are set by the administrator and may be changed as situations and demand warrants. There are no regulations concerning facility name, but names such as "Newark Rehabilitation Services" or "Outpatient Therapy Center of Brookville" works better than "Newark CORF."  You may know what CORF stands for, but very few other do.

As with the establishment of any business, medical or otherwise, a large number of factors enter into that determination. Establishment of an operational facility can be as quick as 3 months or as long as a year. An initial determination of possible state requirement of a Certificate of Need (CON) may render the decision to establish a facility in those states requiring such as not worth pursuing resultant of the time and expense involved. Conversion of an existent facility into a CORF may require build out or spatial re-orientation. The facility must comply with all federal, state, and local building, fire, and safety codes.