Complexities of Surgery Pricing and Implications for Life Care Planners

Life care planning is a method of determining current and future care needs with associated costs for individuals with a disability or chronic illness. Obtaining prices for future surgeries can be difficult for life care planners. Life care planning standards of practice indicate that a method of determining charges should be consistent, valid and reliable. In the authors’ experience, data related to facility prices for surgeries can be quite variable. Knowing how to evaluate data is important to ensure that prices are appropriate for use in life care planning. The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the available methods for obtaining facility prices for surgeries in relation to best practices in life care planning. It is intended that this article will help life care planners understand the complexities of obtaining facility prices for surgeries and become more informed about evaluating different sources of pricing information.