Life Care Plan Physician Consultations and Medical Summary Letters

One of the key criteria for including items in a life care plan is a medical foundation. Items included in the life care plan must be more probably than not causally related to the indexed incident (ex. motor vehicle collision, on-the-job injury, etc.).  Additionally, all items included must be deemed medically necessary, preventative, and rehabilitative. 
 
One of the Standards of Practice for life care planners is to perform a comprehensive assessment including review of medical records, interview with the evaluee and family, and conferring with treating or consulting healthcare professionals. Occasionally, clearly stated treatment recommendations can be gleaned from a review of medical records or treating physicians’ deposition transcripts. However, the medical records often fail to specify the frequency and duration of specific treatment required. For example, a neurosurgeon may recommend a 2-level anterior cervical fusion in a medical report but not establish follow-up office visits, physical therapy, pre-surgery labs, diagnostics and imaging, post-surgery medication, or equipment/supplies. Life care planning is a collaborative effort amongst various professionals.  An experienced life care planner can develop questions to present to treating and consultative health care providers to identify future needs. 
 
It is not uncommon to consult with multiple medical providers in sub-specialty areas (ex. neurologist, spine specialist, pain management, etc.) on the same case to develop a comprehensive life care plan.  After each conference, a summary letter is generated by the life care planner documenting the recommended treatment for future care and presented to the physician/health care professional for review. If any changes or additions are needed, this can be noted by the physician/health care professional so that the preciseness of recommendations is well documented. Only items that are considered more probably than not, based on a reasonable degree of medical certainty, are included in the life care plan.
 
The recommendations made by physicians and healthcare providers during conferences with the life care planner serve as a basis of items included in developing a life care plan. In addition, since a medical foundation is paramount in developing a life care plan, the following can further assist in life care plan development:

•    Physicians document in chart notes and reports recommendations for more probable future medical care needs of the patient
•    When taking the depositions of physicians, asking them to specify future treatment recommendations with projected time frames of procedures/surgeries and the frequency/duration of all treatment
•    Attorneys should also consider reviewing the life care plan with the physician(s) when taking their depositions to further confirm the proper translation of recommendations into life care plan items
 
To schedule a complimentary consultation with one of our experts at Stokes & Associates, please call one of our Client Development contacts.

David Barrett
Cell 504-259-6557
dbarrett@stokes-associates.com 

Kelly Bradley Ebelt (Texas)
Cell 713-205-2205  
kebelt@stokes-associates.com
 

Stokes & Associates Experts:
Larry S. Stokes, Ph.D.
Aaron Wolfson, Ph.D.
Lacy Sapp, Ph.D.
Todd Capielano, M.Ed., LRC, CRC, LPC, CLCP
Ashley Lastrapes, Ph.D., CRC, CCM, CLCP, LPC, LRC
Brandy Bradley, MHS, CRC, LRC, CLCP
Elizabeth Peralta, M.Ed., LRC, CRC, CLCP