Back to our Roots

When composing our monthly newsletter, we attempt to educate readers on the practice of Vocational Rehabilitation and Life Care Planning.  This month, however, we would like to elicit your input.  In response to last month's email newsletter, we were contacted by readers who gave us feedback about how our services impact decisions and outcomes in the litigation process.  This sharing of information is essential.  Therefore, to keep an open dialogue, we offer information from the Tenets of Life Care Planning and ask if you have a comment or question, don't hesitate to contact us.  We welcome the exchange.

Tenet - "All plan recommendations should relate to patient-specific evaluation data.  Each recommendation must be carefully tied to the data collected in the clinical interview, the history taken with the patient and family, and the review of all medical/health-related professional records.  The basis for each item citation should be clear to others who review the life care plan.  No one should be left to wonder why specific recommendations were made."

Discussion - Breaking this down means that all life care plan recommendations must also be related to the specific indexed incident or event that causes the need for the recommendations.  The word "all" is emphasized because of its high importance.  This tenet insists that no opinion or recommendation can be omitted if it can be tied back to the case, regardless of who generated it, unless it is outside the scope of practice.  This tenet compels the consideration of recommendations, whether from treating or consulting physicians, plaintiff, or defense.  Life care planners are not in a position to challenge a recommendation's validity on that basis.

The life care planner should also consider general medical conditions that require treatment but are not included in the plan if unrelated to the event.  Physicians struggle with differentiating included items as they are generally in the practice of treating the patient as a whole.  We consistently inform treating and consulting physicians or allied health professionals that we include treatment recommendations only if they are causally related to the indexed event.  This tenet requires the basis for inclusion to be reported in the plan, which we accomplish by attributing recommendations to the professional who made them in the comment section of the life care plan.