We welcome you to the ICHCC® blog! Many who phone the ICHCC® or visit the ICHCC.org website are health care professionals looking to expand their careers by adding one of our certifications to their field of expertise. We are the oldest and largest certification agency in the United States and Canada for Life Care Planning and in the United States for Medicare Set-aside Consultants and allocators. The ICHCC® is always here to discuss and assist you in any way that we can and we welcome your calls and inquiries.

The International Commission on Health Care Certification  (ICHCC® ) is proud of its strong heritage. We are equally proud of our all-inclusive policy of accepting interdisciplinary qualified health care professionals from many formal degree training academic programs and practice settings for the Certified Life Care Planner (CLCP® ) credential, the Canadian Certified Life Care Planner (CCLCP ) credential, the Medicare Set-Aside Certified Consultant (MSCC ) credential, the Certified Geriatric Care Manager® (CGCM® ) credential and the Certified Medical Cost Projection Specialist (CMCPS®).

The ICHCC is stringent in its efforts to uphold our well-established standards of practice and guidelines, the reliability of our examination test items, and the validity of test items that complete and establish a valid certification exam. We apply this care to our multiple certification examinations, and research efforts are ongoing to ensure our examinations reflect the roles and functions identified by practitioners who achieve certification status under their respective ICHCC® credential area of expertise.

Always do your due diligence to investigate all certification agencies to ensure their tests and test items have undergone the necessary validation protocols with periodic reliabilitv reviews

In today's blog, we will be concentrating on our CLCP® and CCLCP certifications. As we are finalizing our Accreditation application with ANAB , it has brought into focus the power, strength and prestige of your Certified Life Care Planner (CLCP®) and Canadian Certified Life Care Planner (CCLCP) certifications as well as the Validity and Reliability Research that has been funded and completed by the ICHCC®.

Validity and Reliability Research

Thirty-seven years of research and studies have been devoted to the CLCP®. and CCLCP Certifications. Validity and reliability research of the Certified Life Care Planner credential was completed through Southern Illinois University, and was based specifically on the roles and function of case managers and rehabilitation nurses who provided this service as part of their case management structure (Turner, Taylor, Rubin, & May, 2000). An update of life care planners' roles and functions was completed at the University of Florida (Pomeranz, Yu, & Reed, 2010), and the most recent updated role and function study was completed by the ICHCC® (May & MoradiRekabdarkolaee, 2020) with 16 knowledge domains and 201 subfactors applied to life care planning.

Currently, there is ample literature in the professional journals that addresses life care planning, and the ICHCC's® research goals of identifying and establishing the background, education, and the experience criteria required to competently develop life care plans have been achieved. However, there is always more research required of a dynamic service delivery system in health care such as life care planning.

Why are the CLCP® and CCLCP Examinations of such importance?

The purpose of the Certified Life Care Planner examination is to assess the knowledge and skills that are necessary for the processing, documentation, and the writing of the life care plan of a disabled individual. The purpose of the examination as stated above supports our mission statement in that the ICHCC® is charged with “...developing and administering examinations that assess the knowledge and skills that comprise the essential functions required of life care planners...” The examination process brings true measures and objectives to the certification process, while identifying those health care practitioners who possess the necessary skill-base and knowledge to structure a valid life care plan.

Without a validated examination process, a certification credential would be weak and without a direct application of knowledge and skillsets neeessary to construct a complete life care plan.

Why are the CLCP® and CCLCP Certifications so Important?

Why is obtaining the CLCP® or CCLCP certification important in your practice? The answer lies within the litigious nature of this specialized health care delivery service and the need to protect the consumer of services. The consumer of services can be the third-party benefit provider/defense counsel or the disabled person/plaintiff counsel, and any other referral source that may include but not limited to attending physicians, rehabilitation program medical directors, or family members. Consumer protection is achieved through the policy structure of the ICHCC® such that by obtaining the Certified Life Care Planner credential, the candidate agrees to: 

  1. be peer reviewed
  2. adhere to a set of practice standards and ethical guidelines that are research-based
  3. be scrutinized by a governing board regarding his or her practice behaviors
  4. be disciplined in the event of a finding of fact regarding inappropriate practice behaviors and/or outcomes Protection for the consumer of services is safeguarded through the existence of a governing board, or a Certified Life Care Planner Board of Commissioners to oversee consumer concerns/complaints as well as concerns or complaints of one's certified peer-group. Disciplinary action may be implemented on behalf of the consumer by this governing board.

Non-certified life care planners cannot assure the consumer of such safeguards or practice tenets and therefore cannot guarantee to the consumers that their work will follow a set of standards governed by a higher board of authority. The primary purpose of the Board of Commissioners is to protect the consumer as well as to regulate the actions of those persons who carry the Certified Life Care Planner and Canadian Certified Life Care Planner credentials. Information regarding eligibility is found in the International Commission on Health Care Certification Practice Standards and Guidelines, and is presented below for the reader's convenience.

Eligibility The ICHCC® requires strict guidelines to be met by all candidates in order to qualify to sit for the Certified Life Care Planner examination. Please visit the ICHCC.org website and locate the Practice Standards and Guidelines to review the qualifications needed to be eligible to become a Certified Life Care Planner (CLCP®) or Canadian Certified Life Care Planner (CCLCP).

The ICHCC® is always here to discuss and assist you in any way that we can and we welcome your calls and inquiries.

 

References

Turner, T., Taylor, D., Rubin, S., & May, V. (2000). Job functions associated with the development of life care plans. The Journal ofLegal Nurse Consulting, 11(3), 3-7.

Pomeranz, J., Yu, N., & Reed, C. (2010). Role and Function Study of Life Care Planners. .Journal of Lrfe Care Planning, 9(3), 57—106.

May, V., & MoradiRekabdarkolaee.(2020). The International Commission on Health Care Certification life care planner role and function investigation. Journal of Life Care Planning, 18(2), 3-67