When it’s time to factor future medical costs, a common concern is that the projection may be insufficient to meet a patient’s needs. The strong temptation is to include all potential complications, and choose the highest-end durable medical equipment. However, this is rarely the best approach to meeting that patient’s needs. The resulting exorbitant projection may result in rejection of an otherwise reasonable settlement.
Professionals may confuse Life Care Plans with Medical Cost Projections:
A Medical Cost Projection, or MCP, is confined to reviewing medical records and projecting the costs of a specific surgical procedure or medical course of care. Some of those costs are projected for the lifetime of the patient, or the weeks remaining on a worker’s compensation claim.
Performing a Medical Cost Projection does not require professional certification and although classes are available, many MCPs are constructed by individuals who seek guidance from peers.
MCP’s are factored by geographic adjustment, reimbursement by private insurance or state Board fee schedules, and vary in quality and accuracy depending upon the contractor’s experience.
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A Life Care Plan, or LCP, does require certification since these plans are often associated with depositions and testimony at trial. When a patient has a catastrophic injury or illness, the plan may involve a visit to the patient’s home, interdisciplinary communication, coordination, and anticipation of lifelong healthcare needs.
Life Care Plans are based upon actual charges and are not limited by the concept of reimbursement. The plans require a careful assessment of the patient’s lifetime needs, family resources, community and educational support, medical supplies, and potential complications.
In predicting future complications, Nurse Life Care Planners have the advantage.
In the hospital setting, nurses oversee every aspect of patient care and coordinate scheduling among respiratory, physical, occupational and speech therapies, dietary consults, and diagnostic procedures. Certified Nurse Life Care Planners are attuned to the patient’s need for and response to medication, the status of their hydration, mentation, skin integrity, and early signs of complications. Our experience and utilization of nursing diagnoses guide us in prevention and management.
While physician diagnoses support the need for medical care and shape the bones of an LCP, nursing diagnoses, of which there are 250, flesh out a life care plan. A nurse with experience in burn care, TBI, cerebral palsy, amputations or the elderly, knows what constitutes a preventable complication. Our plan recommendations align with nursing diagnoses and our only boundaries are those established by the Nurse Practice Act of our state.
But whether a Life Care Plan is constructed by a nurse, social worker, counselor or rehab supplier, the goal remains the same: planning and funding for care that will maximize the patient’s potential for independence while adding to the quality of their remaining years.
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