Whether you’re a defense or plaintiff attorney, handling a personal injury case will usually involve accurately projecting future medical care costs associated with the injury in question. While you might think that you can calculate this figure on your own, doing so without help from a Certified Life Care Planner can be both incredibly difficult and risky.
If you have a personal injury case with medical damages, keep reading to learn why you should hire a Certified Life Care Planner instead of attempting to make an assessment yourself.
What Are the Credentials of a Certified Life Care Planner?
Life Care Planner certification serves as proof of the consultant’s thorough knowledge and understanding of the medical requirements for catastrophic and non-catastrophic injuries. Requirements for certification include a bachelor’s degree in a healthcare field, an active medical license, two years of experience working in healthcare, and the completion of a 120-hour certification class. Certification is provided by the FIG Education Advisory Board.
What’s Included in a Medical Cost Assessment?
Before you can fully understand why you should hire a Certified Life Care Planner, it’s important to understand exactly what services this type of consultant provides. By considering the complexity of the medical cost reports created by a Certified Life Care Planner, you can better appreciate the high level of experience and training needed to create such a report. The two types of reports created by Certified Life Care Planners are the Medical Cost Projection and the Life Care Plan.
What’s Included in a Medical Cost Projection?
- A detailed medical summary of the injury or injuries
- A list of relevant medical diagnoses
- A list of all records reviewed
- A list of current medications
- An accounting of projected future care and conditions
- A detailed assessment of ongoing medical care and associated costs
What’s Included in a Life Care Plan?
- Credential information regarding the report creator
- Background information on the purpose of a Life Care Plan
- A complete list of records reviewed
- A list of all relevant diagnoses
- A medical summary of relevant injuries
- A comprehensive description of all related medical care
- A thorough description of the injured party’s symptoms and physical limitations
- Notes on interviews with healthcare providers
- A list of current medications
- A summary covering the report’s findings
- A list of additional resources used in the creation of the report
- An exhaustive projection of all future medical costs associated with the injury or injuries
The Benefits of Hiring a Certified Life Care Planner
There’s no question that having an accurate MCP report or Life Care Plan can make a big difference in your case. From preventing excessive or under-valued settlement requests to strengthening your case, there are many benefits to be had from a high-quality cost assessment. Still, why should you turn to a Certified Life Care Planner instead of attempting to create a report on your own? There are a few major advantages to turning to the experts for help:
- Get Accurate Information, Quickly – We work efficiently to enable you to act quickly on behalf of your client.
- Avoid Excessive Payouts – With help from a Certified Life Care Planner, you can take a strong stance against excessive demands or settlement requests.
- Reliable Medical Knowledge – When you hire a Certified Life Care Planner, you’re relying on proven medical assessment experience and detailed healthcare knowledge.
- Thorough Medical Research – Thanks to their medical knowledge, Certified Life Care Planners can conduct high-level medical research with ease.
- Educated Insights – A Certified Life Care Planner can rely on their expertise and experience to provide educated insights that might otherwise be overlooked.
The Challenges of Calculating Medical Damages
If you still aren’t convinced that turning to a Certified Life Care Planner for your case is the right idea, you should take time to consider the difficulties you’ll face if you attempt to conduct a medical cost assessment without expert assistance. Some of the biggest challenges in Life Care Planning include:
- Navigating complex and industry-specific healthcare terminology
- Researching potential complications of a medical condition
- Conducting interviews with healthcare providers covering complex medical topics
- Analyzing and parsing out the details of medical records
- Identifying likely complications
- Providing a clear, accurate description of future care expectations
As you can see, there are many difficult steps that must be taken during the creation of a high-quality Life Care Plan or Medical Cost Projection. Don’t put your bottom line and your client’s payout at risk by failing to get the assistance you need.
Why Choose DM Medical Cost Consulting?
We’ve made it clear that turning to a Certified Life Care Planner for assistance is the best way to ensure your clients’ rights are protected in a personal injury case, but you might still be wondering why you should choose DM Medical Cost Consulting over our competitors. We have the answer:
- Airtight Cost Reports – A Certified Life Care Planner has the experience and resources needed to create a neat, airtight report that stands up to scrutiny.
- Bilingual Services – Working in the Rio Grande Valley, it’s important that we offer services that meet our clients’ needs, and that means offering services in both English and Spanish, as needed.
- Orthopedic Background – One of the biggest things that sets DM Medical Cost Consulting apart from our competitors is our background in orthopedic medicine. Many personal injury cases involve an orthopedic element, and our hands-on healthcare experience gives us an advantage over other medical cost consultants.
Get an Accurate Report of Medical Damages From DM Medical Cost Consulting
As a personal injury attorney, you already know that the evidence you have in support of your case is ultimately what decides the outcome. One important piece of evidence that could help ensure a favorable outcome in your case is an accurate Medical Cost Projection or Life Care Plan. With a thorough medical cost assessment supporting your case, you can ensure that your client’s rights are protected, whether you’re representing the plaintiff or defendant.
If you’re still not sure how a Medical Cost Projection report or Life Care Plan could help your case, reach out to the Certified Life Care Planners at DM Medical Cost Consulting today. We can tell you all about our services and how an accurate report can make a difference in your case.