Life Care Planning and Acquired Brain Injury: Determining Needs and Costs at the Dawn of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act

Life care plans involve synthesis of diverse and sometimes divergent information into a documented plan representing dynamically integrated needs and associated costs. From early roots in the 1970’s with origins in the experimental analysis of behavior, developmental psychology and case management, life care planning has evolved into a well-established field that is both clinically and forensically recognized (Weed, 2010, Weed and Berens, 2012). The philosophies, foundations and methodologies of life care planning have been well reviewed in a broad array of publications (Deutsch, Allison and Reid, 2003; Riddick- Grisham and Deming 2011; Weed and Berens, 2010). Key elements include: 1) a consistent methodology to effectively analyze evaluee needs; 2) needs driven recommendations that are articulated to the specific individual and have a basis in the known medical and rehabilitation outcome research literature; and 3) strong medical, rehabilitation, case management and psychological foundations (Deutsch 1995; 2013).