Published, Peer-Reviewed Methods and Practices for Life Care Planning

Life care planning relies on established, peer-reviewed methodologies to ensure accuracy, consistency, and defensibility. These standards guide how future medical needs are evaluated, documented, and supported across clinical and legal contexts.

Recognized Standards Within the Discipline

There are several published and peer-reviewed standards of practice and principles within the discipline of life care planning. These include the International Commission on Health Care Certification’s (ICHCC’s) Standards of Practice, the American Academy of Nurse Life Care Planners’ Nurse Life Care Planning Standards of Practice, and the Tenets, Methods, and Best Practices of the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners.

While many of the Life Care Planning Physicians at Physician Life Care Planning maintain the International Commission on Health Care Certification’s Certified Life Care Planning Certification (CLCP™ Certification), all Physician Life Care Planners at Physician Life Care Planning conform to the Tenets, Methods, and Best Practices advocated by the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners.

Published, Peer-Reviewed, Reliable, and Widely Accepted

The tenets, methods, and best practices of the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners were first published in 2017 in A Physician’s Guide to Life Care Planning: Tenets, Methods and Best Practices for Physician Life Care Planners.

This published, regularly employed peer-reviewed methodology is widely accepted within the discipline of life care planning, and it has been reliably employed in thousands of state and federal court cases throughout the United States.

Recognition by the International Commission on Health Care Certification (ICHCC)

Training in the methodology advocated by the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners has been peer-reviewed by the International Commission on Health Care Certification (ICHCC), the certifying body that governs the Certified Life Care Planning Certification (CLCP™), the oldest and most widely held certification in the field of life care planning. Additionally, the ICHCC peer-reviews and accepts life care plans which employ the methodology advocated by the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners for purposes of awarding CLCP™ Certification to CLCP™ Certification Candidates. Further, the ICHCC affords ICHCC Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to CLCP™ Certification Holders who receive methodological and clinical education from the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners.

Recognition by the American Medical Association (AMA)

Additionally, training in the methodology advocated by the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners is reviewed and accepted by the American Medical Association (AMA), in conjunction with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the University of Texas Health Science Center of San Antonio.

The AMA affords its highest level Continuing Medical Education Credits (CME Credits) to licensed physicians who receive methodological and clinical training and education from the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners.

Recognition by the Certified Physician Life Care Planner Certification Board (CPLCP™)

Further, training in the methodology advocated by the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners is reviewed and accepted by the Certified Physician Life Care Planner Certification Board (CPLCP™ Certification Board). The CPLCP™ Certification Board affords Continuing Education Credits (CE Credits) to CPLCP™ Certification Holders who receive methodological and clinical education from the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners.

Recognition Within the Legal Community

Both plaintiff and defense bars in the United States have awarded to their members Continuing Legal Education Credits (CLE Credits) to those [attorneys] who have received education and training pertaining to the tenets, methods, and best practices advocated by the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners.

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Objective of the Methodology

In brief, the objective of the methodology advocated by the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners is for a life care planner to accomplish The Clinical Objectives of Life Care Planning by answering The Basic Questions of Life Care Planning, using their education, training, skill, and professional experience [e.g. as a qualified physician, life care planner, etc.], a reasonable degree of medical probability, and the following peer-reviewed methodological sequence:

Consideration of Objective Findings (consideration of information contained within a subject’s medical, and/or other relevant records, and/or information obtained via an interview/examination of the subject).

Formulation of the life care plan’s Central Opinions, i.e., the formulation of medical opinions which pertain to a subject’s impairments, disabilities, and probable duration of care.

Formulation of the life care plan’s Future Medical Requirements (FMRs).

Quantification of the life care plan’s future medical requirements in monetary terms via the formulation of a Cost Analysis and Cost/Vendor Survey

Standard Life Care Plan Presentation Structure

The American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners advocates presenting the information derived from the application/execution of this methodological sequence within a life care plan as follows: