What is a Certified Life Care Planner (CLCP) and Why Does It Matter?

What Is a Certified Life Care Planner (CLCP) and Why Does It Matter?

Not every life care plan is prepared by someone qualified to defend it under cross-examination. The credential that separates the two is CLCP, Certified Life Care Planner. Here is what the designation actually means, how someone earns it, and why it should factor into who you hire for a case or a family member’s future care.

What a Certified Life Care Planner Is

A Certified Life Care Planner is a professional, typically a registered nurse or rehabilitation counselor, who has met a defined standard of training, examination, and experience to earn the CLCP designation through the International Commission on Health Care Certification. The credential confirms that the planner follows established clinical practice guidelines and published standards of practice rather than personal judgment alone when projecting an individual’s future medical and support needs.

Life care planning itself is not a licensed profession the way nursing or medicine is. Anyone can technically call themselves a life care planner. The CLCP credential is what verifies that a specific planner has been tested against an industry standard, which matters enormously when a plan is going to be scrutinized by opposing counsel, an insurance adjuster, or a judge.

How Someone Becomes Certified

Earning the CLCP designation requires a combination of relevant clinical or rehabilitation experience, completion of approved coursework covering methodology and legal standards, and a passing score on a certification examination administered by the International Commission on Health Care Certification. Certified planners are also expected to complete continuing education to maintain the credential, which keeps their methodology current as medical costs, treatment standards, and case law evolve.

Many CLCPs also hold related credentials, such as membership in the American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners or the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, which reflect additional specialization in the clinical and legal sides of the work respectively.

Why the Credential Matters

The short answer: admissibility and credibility. A life care plan is only useful if it holds up, whether that means a family trusts the numbers or a court accepts the testimony behind them. When a plan is challenged, and complex, high-value cases are challenged often, the first thing opposing counsel looks at is whether the person who built it is actually qualified to have built it.

A CLCP designation gives a plan a documented, third-party-verified foundation. It signals that the projections inside are based on peer-reviewed research, recognized methodology, and a process that has been tested against professional standards, not simply one planner’s best guess. That distinction can be the difference between a plan that supports a fair settlement and one that gets picked apart in deposition.

Certified vs. Uncertified: What Is Actually at Stake

Hiring an uncertified life care planner is not automatically a mistake, but it is a risk that increases with the stakes of the case. An uncertified planner’s methodology may be sound, or it may not hold up when questioned under oath. Since there is no license requirement to call oneself a life care planner, the CLCP credential is often the clearest signal available for verifying competence before a plan is built rather than after it has already been challenged.

• For attorneys: an uncredentialed plan is a vulnerability the opposing side will find.
• For insurance companies and settlement companies: an uncredentialed valuation invites dispute rather than resolution.
• For families: an uncredentialed plan may simply underestimate or overestimate real future costs, since it was not built against a tested methodology.

Why Work With RCC

RCC’s lead planner, Doreen Casuto, RN, holds the Certified Life Care Planner designation through the International Commission on Health Care Certification and brings decades of clinical and expert witness experience across hundreds of cases in California and nationwide. RCC has served as a trusted expert witness resource for attorneys since the early 1990s, working with plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys, insurance companies, settlement companies, and fiduciaries at every stage of a case.

Every plan RCC produces is grounded in peer-reviewed research, regional cost data, and independent medical evaluation, built by a certified professional whose credentials hold up when challenged. RCC is family owned and operated, and clients consistently point to responsiveness as the difference. As one attorney client put it, when they call, someone gets back to them, which matters just as much during a contested case as the credentials behind the plan itself.

Work With a Certified Life Care Planner

Whether you need a complete life care plan built from scratch, a review of an existing plan, or expert deposition and trial testimony, RCC has the certification and the track record to deliver. Contact RCC to discuss your case and confirm the credentials behind the work.

Call 1 (619) 299-9922 or reach out through the RCC contact page to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a Certified Life Care Planner the same as a life care planner?
Not necessarily. Anyone can use the title life care planner, since it is not a licensed profession. A Certified Life Care Planner has passed an examination and met experience requirements through the International Commission on Health Care Certification, verifying a tested standard of competence.

Does a life care plan need to be prepared by a CLCP to be used in court?
There is no absolute legal requirement, but courts and opposing counsel routinely scrutinize a preparer’s qualifications. A CLCP designation strengthens a plan’s admissibility and makes it harder to challenge on the basis of the preparer’s credentials.

How can I verify someone actually holds the CLCP credential?
The International Commission on Health Care Certification maintains certification records for CLCP holders. Attorneys and families can request documentation of a planner’s certification status directly as part of the vetting process.

Does RCC’s team hold the CLCP credential?
Yes. RCC’s lead planner, Doreen Casuto, RN, holds the CLCP designation and has decades of clinical and expert witness experience, which underpins every life care plan RCC produces.