The North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council (SHCC) has published need determinations ahead of releasing the initial draft of the 2027 State Medical Facilities Plan (SMFP). This blog summarizes the initial determinations and the process to formalize the 2027 Plan.
Legislators in several states with Certificate of Need (CON) laws have introduced legislation to revise which services are subject to CON review. Proposed legislation in Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, and Tennessee would change the existing requirements for facility expansion, equipment acquisition, and service initiation. In this blog, we summarize the current 2026 legislative activity in these four states
Louisiana maritime injury cases often involve two distinct federal laws: the Jones Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA). Each act requires different standards of evidence depending on the injured worker’s role and location. Accurately assessing damages under these laws requires specialized expertise. At Research & Planning Consultants, LP (RPC), our vocational experts, life care planners, and economists work regularly with attorneys to determine economic damages, evaluate work capacity, and provide expert testimony in maritime injury cases.
In auto and commercial truck collision cases, the economic consequences of catastrophic injury or death can be among the most complex and heavily litigated parts of a claim. At RPC, we specialize in delivering both Life Care Plan and Vocational Evaluation reports tailored to the needs of trucking and auto litigation whether you represent plaintiffs or defendants.
A Look Back at RPC in 2025 and Forward to 2026 - From RPC President, Ronald T. Luke, JD, PhD
A high-quality medical summary for a personal injury case is a concise, accurate chronology of the medical care provided to the injured plaintiff before and after the event. In this blog, we discuss the components used to create a complete medical summary.
How do life care planners determine what type of home healthcare services are medically necessary and related to the accident, and the required frequency and duration of them? In this blog, we discuss the process
Workers’ compensation claim files can be a valuable resource for attorneys in personal injury litigation. In Texas, different than all other states, employers are not required to have workers’ compensation insurance. They can be subscribers to the Texas workers’ compensation system with its legal protections and duties. They can have an ERISA occupational injury program that can afford similar protections and duties. Or, they can “go bare,” forfeit some affirmative defenses, and be subject to the tort system. We asked James Loughlin, a partner in Stone Loughlin & Swanson to prepare a document to inform RPC staff about workers’ compensation claim files.
The exact benefits a veteran receives depends on several factors including service history, tenure, disability status, and dependent status. Although the governing formulas are straightforward on paper, determining a veteran’s benefits is complex in practice and requires knowledge of both the statutory framework and the economic reasoning underlying its design. For attorneys working on personal injury cases where the plaintiff is a veteran, identifying the benefits the veteran has earned is essential to determine the reasonable value of past and future medical expenses, loss of earning capacity, and available support in wrongful death cases. In this blog, we identify veteran's benefits.
As certified rehabilitation counselors, we review and critique the vocational opinions of other certified rehabilitation counselors prepared for the plaintiffs in personal injury litigation. To do this we apply specific standards that are generally defined by information in the Rehabilitation Counselor’s Handbook, in Vocational Assessment: Evaluating Employment Potential, and best practices. This blog discusses common ways certified rehabilitation counselors may not adhere to these best practices.