Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 1, Section 110.2
The patient can only be expected to benefit significantly from the intensive rehabilitation therapy program if … the patient can reasonably be expected to make measurable improvements (that will be of practical value to improve the patient’s functional capacity or adaptation to impairments) … The patient need not be expected to achieve complete independence in the domain of self-care nor be expected to return to his or her prior level of functioning in order to meet this standard.
Jimmo v. Sebelius Settlement Agreement
IX. INJUNCTIVE PROVISIONS, Manual Revisions, IRF Coverage Standards
8. Manual Revisions will clarify that an IRF claim could never be denied for the following reasons: (1) because the patient could not be expected to achieve complete independence in the domain of self-care or (2) because the patient could not be expected to return to his or her prior level of functioning.