Pettingill Analytics
Practice Area

Life Care Plan Costing

Independent economic costing of life care plans prepared by certified life care planners.

Core Services
  • Item-by-item costing
  • Geographic adjustment
  • Medical care inflation
  • Present value to life expectancy

When a treating professional or certified life care planner has prepared a plan of future medical and attendant care, the economist's job is to price that plan accurately and reduce the future stream to present value. Dr. Pettingill has costed plans ranging from modest post-injury physical therapy regimens to comprehensive plans for ventilator-dependent and spinal cord injured plaintiffs.

We cost every line item against current, locally sourced prices — not national averages where local prices are available. Where the plan calls for replacement of durable medical equipment on a defined cycle, we model the replacement stream rather than treating it as a single-cost item.

Medical care inflation is treated separately from general inflation, using the medical services CPI components published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The discount rate is selected from the U.S. Treasury yield curve, matched to the duration of the loss.

Frequently Asked

Frequently Asked

Do you prepare the life care plan?
No. The life care plan is prepared by a qualified life care planner, treating physician, or rehabilitation professional. Dr. Pettingill provides the economic costing only, which preserves the appropriate division of expertise.
How are future medical costs adjusted?
Future costs are grown by the medical CPI components appropriate to each category of care, and discounted to present value at a Treasury yield matched to the duration of the loss. The net discount rate is documented in the report.

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