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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Life Care Plan?
Who are potential clients for Health Care Planning?
What areas are included in Life Care Plan?
What is the "lost earning potential?"
What is included in the "lost earnings potential" report?

What is a Life Care Plan?

A life care plan is a document based upon accepted standards of practice, it encompasses a comprehensive patient assessment, complex data analysis, and extensive research that results in an organized, concise individual plan of care to meet both current and future needs. A life care plan itemizes case specific goods and services considered reasonable and necessary for the patient's recovery to the maximum health and independence possible and to prevent potential complications. Resources to meet the plan of care, including associated costs, are determined for the lifespan of the individual who has experienced catastrophic injury or has chronic health care needs.

Each recommendation is itemized by its purpose, year initiated and suspended, recurrence and replacement frequencies and costs, including calculations. The costs can be annual or occurrence costs, and proposed vendors, including qualifications and the source of vendor recommendation is integral to a successful outcome. This is the Healthcare Consulting Services advantage.

Therefore it is essential life care plan be a collaborative effort among all professionals involved in the patient's care. Ideally, it should be designed by a healthcare professional with clinical experience in long term care, managed care, collaborative care and with the legal, reimbursement and financial expertise necessary to create a solid life care plan able to achieve realistic goals within an equally realistic cost framework.

Finally, not only should it reflect the goals, both preventive and rehabilitative, initially identified when the life care plan was initiated; it may require periodic reassessment and update to accommodate changes in the patient clinical scenario, advances in medical technology and economic factors affecting cost of care.

Summaries may be provided that present the average or the range of annual costs, or by the year of the occurrence through life expectancy.

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Who are potential clients for Health Care Planning?

Patients and FamiliesxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTrustees
Third Party Payers
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAttorneys
Health Care Professionals/Treatment Teams
Financial Planners

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What areas are included in Life Care Plan?

  • Projected number, type and frequency of medical evaluations
  • Projected number, type and frequency of diagnostic testing
  • Projected number, type and frequency of educational testing
  • Projected number, type and frequency of vocational testing
  • Projected number, type and frequency of therapy modalities; including vocational
  • Projected number and type of medical equipment needs, including maintenance and projected replacements (e.g. wheelchairs, orthotics/prosthetics, durable medical equipment, supplies, ADL aids, etc)
  • Projected number, type and frequency of home care services
  • Projected medication needs and management
  • Projected residential needs; whether architectural renovations to patient's home or short term/long term facility placement, including duration Transportation needs
  • Projected potential complications
  • Projected type and frequency of acute care intervention
  • Projected type and frequency of surgical intervention
  • Projected type and frequency of "routine" medical care
  • Assessment of lost earning capacity with monetary projections

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What is the "lost earning potential?"

Loss of earning capacity is an analysis of an individual's potential to work and earn money in a given competitive employment market both pre and post "event". Consideration is given to age; gender; education; work experience, the patient's physical/mental/emotional condition; the patient's enhanced capacities (education and training opportunities available) and employment market supply and demand. This includes determination of patient's ability to access the employment market from a "transferable skills" analysis and includes researching the patient's potential for placement, creating earning capacity scenarios and presenting realistic work life expectancies.

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What is included in the "lost earnings potential" report?

  • A specific rehabilitative focused plan of action focused on achieving a defined vocational goal that will allow the patient to maximize vocational independence.
  • Provision of relevant pre- and post-event labor market scenarios.
  • Identification of the pre- and post-event jobs for which the individual otherwise qualifies, their availability and the extent to which successful placement and retention may be expected.
  • Presentation of the projected pre- and post-event earnings.
  • Projection of the patient's work life expectancy as the cumulative expected duration for active labor force participation.

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