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Intermediate Care Facilities and Program Types (ICF/DD, ICF/DD-H, ICF/DD-N, ICF/DD-CN)

Intermediate Care Facilities (ICF) are health facilities licensed by the Licensing and Certification Division of the California Department of Health Services to provide 24-hour-per-day services. The four types of ICFs providing services for Californians with developmental disabilities in the community are:

ICF/DD (Developmentally Disabled)

"Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled" is a facility that provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation, developmental, and supportive health services to developmentally disabled clients whose primary need is for developmental services and who have a recurring but intermittent need for skilled nursing services.

ICF/DD-H (Habilitative)

"Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-habilitative" is a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation, developmental, and supportive health services to 15 or fewer developmentally disabled persons who have intermittent recurring needs for nursing services, but have been certified by a physician and surgeon as not requiring availability of continuous skilled nursing care.

ICF/DD-N (Nursing)

"Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing" is a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that provides 24-hour personal care, developmental services, and nursing supervision for developmentally disabled persons who have intermittent recurring needs for skilled nursing care but have been certified by a physician and surgeon as not requiring continuous skilled nursing care. The facility shall serve medically fragile persons who have developmental disabilities or demonstrate significant developmental delay that may lead to a developmental disability if not treated.

ICF/DD-CN (Continuous Nursing) Pilot Program

These facilities provide services similar to ICF/DD-N services with the addition of 24-hour skilled nursing services (licensed vocational nurse and registered nurse) for those consumers whose medical conditions require continuous nursing care and observation. The ICF/DD-CN facilities provide these services for 4-15 consumers in a community-based living arrangement, with preference given to facilities serving 4-6 individuals. The pilot project is currently limited to selected participants and no new facilities are currently being developed.

Intermediate Care Facility - Program Plan Home Page

Information on opening a small community-based health facility for individuals with developmentally disabilities.

Source: California Health & Safety Code, Chapter 2. Health Facilities, Article 1, Section 1250-1263: www.leginfo.ca.gov

For more information about Intermediate Care Facilities, contact your local regional center or the:

If you have any questions, please contact the Health Facilities Program Section at (916) 654-1965 or send an e-mail to ddshfps@dds.ca.gov.