The Certified Life Care Planner™ (CLCP™) is the oldest and most widely held certification in the discipline of life care planning. The CLCP™ examination was first given in March of 1996 with 40 candidates testing in Atlanta, GA, and 40 candidates testing in San Francisco, CA.
The International Commission on Health Care Certification™ (ICHCC™) is proud of its heritage, being 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.
For the convenience of the reader, this certification page provides links to pages pertinent to the CLCP™ credential. You will find direct access links to the CLCP™ application page, the CLCP™ examination page, and the CLCP™ recertification page. Please click on the appropriate menu button for the item you need.
The Certified Life Care Planner™ (CLCP™) is a very prestigious certification. A Certified Life Care Planner™ (CLCP™) must be a health care professional who meets stringent educational and professional qualifications and completes a 120 hour ICHCC™ approved training program along with a sample life care plan that is peer reviewed.
Purpose
The purpose of the CLCP™ credential is to measure the CLCP™ applicant’s working knowledge of medical systems, associated disabilities, and treatment/maintenance protocol required for a catastrophically disabled individual to sustain life within an acceptable comfort level.
Non-discrimination Rights of Refusal Statement: The ICHCC™ does not discriminate against any applicant for CLCP™ certification because of race, color, religion, creed, age, gender, national origin or ancestry. However, the ICHCC™ reserves the right to reject an application based on one’s documented professional misconduct, documented misconduct towards this agency, a history of licensure or certification revocation, or convictions related to criminal misdemeanors or felony charges.
Qualifications - Qualified Health Care Professional
Qualifying for the Certified Life Care Planner™ credential is based upon 2 factors; 1) meeting the definition of a "Qualified Healthcare Provider, and 2) the applicant's education and training.
Before reviewing the educational and training experience component, one must ensure that he or she meets the International Commission on Health Care Certification's definition of "Qualified Health Care Professional." The "Qualified Health Care Professional" definition and a listing of its criteria are detailed in the ICHCC™ Practice Standards and Guidelines available for download on the home page of this web site. All certification candidates should have this manual in his or her library if certification is a true goal.
The ICHCC™ requires the following criteria to be met by all candidates in order to qualify to sit for the examination:
- Each candidate must have a minimum of 120 hours of post-graduate or post-specialty degree training in life care planning or in areas that can be applied to the development of a life care plan or pertain to the service delivery applied to life care planning. There must be 16 hours of training specific to a basic orientation, methodology, and standards of practice in life care planning within the required 120 hours. The 120 hours may be obtained through online training/educational programs as well as onsite presentations and conferences. Additionally, the following educational components by a ICHCC™ approved CLCP™ program are required:
- Life Care Planning Methodology (16 credit hours)
- A course (module) in Catastrophic Case Management (of choice)
- Vocational Rehabilitation Module.
- Legal component in life care planning with an onsite testimony/trial experience.
- Competency - preparation of a life care plan to be reviewed by an approved CLCP™ program or the ICHCC™.
- Applicants should have a minimum of 3 years field experience within the 5 years preceding application for certification. Final approval of any application with ambiguity regarding experience will be left to the discretion of the ICHCC™ Administration following a thorough review of the respective applications. The opinion of the ICHCC™ is final.
- Training hours acquired over a time frame of 5 years from the date of application are counted as valid for consideration. Documentation of such coursework and participation verification is required in the form of attendance verification forms and/or curriculum documentation from the training agency. Each candidate must:
- meet the minimum academic requirements for their designated health care related profession
- be certified, licensed, or meet the legal mandates of the candidate's respective state that allow him or her to practice service delivery within the definition of his or her designated healthcare related profession.
Final approval of any applications with ambiguity regarding training and/or experience will be left to the discretion of the ICHCC™ Administration following a thorough review of the respective applications. The opinion of the ICHCC™ Administration is final.
Recertification
The Certified Life Care Planner™ professional must have his or her CLCP™ credential renewed every 5 years. To maintain the use of the CLCP™ profesional designation, the CLCP™ certificant is required to provide proof of 80 CEUs acquired over the certification period. Within the 80 required CEUs, at least 8 must be of ethical practice subject matter. The remaining CEUs can be of course topics related to life care plans or the certificant's area of expertise. For additional information concerning the renewal process, please review the ICHCC™ Practice Standards and Guidelines, pages 17 through 23. The guidelines can be found under "Resources" in the top horizontal menu bar as well as in several additional locations on the website.
Approved Renewal CEU Hours for all ICHCC™ Certifications can be found by choosing "HOME" in the top menu bar of the ICHCC™ website and then choosing "News and Events", which lists approved CEU hours, as well as the "Google Calendar" that posts all approved CEU hours. In addition, AAACEUS offers CLCP™ Renewal Bundle Packages and MSCC™ Renewal Bundle Packages as well as a variety of ICHCC™ approved CEU hours.
Your CLCP™ renewal application can be emailed to the ICHCC™ (
Options for Renewal
The ICHCC™ certification maintenance program extends the status of CLCP™ at five-year intervals. Options for renewal include:
- Option One: Documentation of 80 CEUs with 8 of those hours in ethics.
- Option Two: Re-examination (Please note that if the certificant's credential is expired, re-examination is not an option.)
Option One
Submit verification of 80 CEUs acquired during the certification period. If a course was preapproved, the CLCP™ professional only needs to provide the attendance verification form along with the CLCP™ renewal form. The fee is $400.
If the CLCP™ professional attended a program that was not approved for CLCP™ CEUs, the required documentation must be submitted and is subject to review. This includes an attendance verification and course agenda or course brochure, as well as the CLCP™ renewal forms. The renewal fee increases to $450 for any number of non-preapproved CEUs submitted with the renewal application.
Option Two
Re-examination. The fee is $895 and covers both the examination fee and certification renewal. If the CLCP™ credential has already expired, this option is not available.
Extensions
If the CLCP™ certificant does not desire to retest, but also lacks the necessary 80 CEUs, then the candidate can apply for an extension. This is available to those with a CLCP™ who have completed and submitted 15 of the 80 CEUs required for maintenance. A six (6) month extension may be granted. The fee is $200.
CLCP™/CCLCP™ Commissioners
- Dana Weldon, MS, CRC, RRP, CLCP™, CCLCP
- Giovanna Boniface, Reg. OT (BC), CCLCP™
- Charlyne Raih, PT, DPT, MHS, MBA, CLCP™
- Richard Bowman, MD, DABPMR, DABPM, FIPP, CEDIR, CLCP™
- Louis P. Lipinski, Jr., MS, CRC, LRC, CLCP™
- Bettina P. Little, RN, BSN, CLCP™, CCM
- Edmond Provder, CRC, LCP, D-ABVE
- Reva Payne, MS, CCM, CDMS, CLCP™, MSCC™, CMCPS™, QRC
- Barbara Fairchild, BSN, RN, CLCP™, MSCC™
- Bob A. Gisclair, MS, CRC, LRC, LPC, CDMS, CCM-R, CLCP™, MSCC™, CMSP
- Donna Hunter, RN, BSN, CCM, CRRN, LNCC, CLCP™
- Cornelius E. Gorman II, Ph.D., MSW, LPC, CRC, CVE, CLCP™
- DenaRamsey, JD, MBA, BSN, CLCP™, MSCC™, CMCPS™, LNCC
- Heather Howe, PT, CCLCP™
