ABSTRACT
Life care planning has emerged as an effective method for identifying and outlining future care needs and costs. By 1985, the life care plan was introduced to the health care industry in the Guide to Rehabilitation. Susan Riddick-Grisham was the first nurse to formally teach other nurses an organized series of life care planning classes when she was hired by Crawford & Company in the early 1990s to educate their consultants nationwide. At present, the life care planning specialty practice continues to grow, change, and modify the scope of practice associated with catastrophic case management. The International Academy of Life Care Planners is well established and has published the third edition of basic standards of practice. In addition to training programs, the Foundation for Life Care Planning Research (FLCPR), established in 2002, is a nonprofit research group that supports graduate students and other qualified research efforts in life care planning, including reliability and validity studies.
