Healthcare Credentialing and Privileging Consultants

Research & Planning Consultants, LP (RPC) has been assisting clients with expert services for over 45 years, including consulting and expert witness testimony for personal injury, healthcare litigation, commercial litigation and Certificate of Need matters. RPC also offers a wide selection of health data. They have served clients across the U.S, from Alaska to Florida and from New England to California. 

A Complete Team of Damages Experts for Personal Injury Litigation

Research & Planning Consultants, LP provides the following services: 

• PERSONAL INJURY - RPC provides comprehensive damages analysis in personal injury litigation. Their expert team has life care planners, vocational evaluators, board-certified physicians, economists and neuropsychologists. 

Areas of Expertise include: Life Care Plans, Loss of Earning Capacity or Support, Present Value of Damages, Medical Bill Analysis, Chargemaster Analysis, Neuropsychological Testing & Traumatic Brain Injury, Vocational Evaluations, IMEs, Section 18.001, Prestanding ED Chargemaster Analysis

• COMMERCIAL LITIGATION- RPC has provided expert analysis on commercial litigation concerning many industries: chemicals, refining, forestry, waste management, pipelines, water resources, oil and gas EDP, fisheries, agriculture, electrical generating plants, transmission lines, telecommunications, and real estate development. Our special expertise in the healthcare industry has proven valuable to business litigators unfamiliar with this complex industry.

Areas of Expertise: Breach of Contract / Commercial Economic Damages, Construction Disputes, Litigation over Non-Competitive Agreements, Environmental Torts and Toxic Torts, Commercial Disparagement, Wrongful Termination

• HEALTHCARE LITIGATION - RPC offers economic, statistical, data and clinical analysis in a wide range of healthcare litigation. They have experience with payment disputes, qui tam litigation, physician-hospital disputes, practice valuations and construction litigation. 

Areas of Expertise: Qui Tam Healthcare Litigation, Medical Staff Disputes, Professional Liability, Payment Disputes, Health Facility Construction Disputes, Freestanding ED Chargemester Analysis

• CERTIFICATE OF NEED - RPC provides Certificate of Need (CON) planning services nationwide. We have over 35 years of experience developing regulatory strategy, preparing applications and testifying in public and administrative hearings.

Areas of Expertise: Satellite Hospitals, New Hospitals, Relocation and Transfer of Beds, Observation Beds, Geriatric Psychiatric Units, Children’s Hospitals, Comprehensive Inpatient Rehabilitation Units, Neonatal Intensive Care Units, Open Heart Surgery Services, Long Term Acute Care Units, Projects that exceed CON Capital Threshold Limits, Projects for Specifically Listed Services, Programs Requiring CON, Hospices, Senior Living Facilities

Ronald T. Luke, JD, PhD, is a principal consultant and President of RPC, LP. Ron joined RPC in 1976 and became its president and principal owner in 1979. He has consulted on projects for health care providers, managed care plans and public agencies in more than 25 states. He also serves as an expert witness in trials, administrative proceedings and legislative hearings.

Active in the Health Policy Arena, Dr. Luke has been accepted as an expert in Economics, Socioeconomic Impact Analysis, and Policy Analysis by state and federal courts, and state administrative agencies. The types of cases in which he has provided expert testimony include personal injury, contractual disputes, health care payment disputes, construction defects, utility construction permitting, and certificate of need. He has testified on health care matters including market structure, billing fraud and abuse, reasonableness of charges, medical staff credentialing, workers’ compensation fee guidelines, utilization review, physician contracts, and managed care contracts.

Kacy L. Turner, MS, CRC, CVE, CLCP, is a Certified Life Care Planner and Vocational Consultant with RPC. She has over 20 years of experience in Rehabilitation. Ms. Turner has experience writing life care plans for both plaintiff and defense clients. She has experience as a rehabilitation consultant in three states and has been qualified as a testifying expert in state and federal court.  

Ms. Turner has worked on cases in several states as well as the country of Trinidad. To determine the pre-injury and post-injury employability in personal injury cases, she provides vocational testing, transferable skills analysis, job requirements analysis, rehabilitation plans, and definition of reasonable accommodations under the American with Disabilities Act. She is a member of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, the Texas Association of Rehabilitation Professionals and Providers of Services, and Vocational Evaluation and Career Assessment Professionals.

Brian Piper, PhD,  is an Economist with RPC specializing in Quantitative Analysis and Modelling. He works on a variety of cases including personal injury and certificate of need. He is experienced in data extraction, management, simulation, and analysis using STATA, SQL, ARC GIS and a variety of other programs. Dr. Piper has taught graduate classes in statistics and econometrics in both MBA and Ph.D. programs.

Dr. Piper is an experienced expert, providing testimony, reports, and affidavits on the issues of economic damages in personal injury litigation, healthcare litigation, False Claims Act litigation, and other commercial litigation. He has testified on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants. 

Dr. Piper specializes in the economics of healthcare. He has been retained by healthcare providers and insurers in payment disputes. He has analyzed the reasonableness of charges and expected payment for past and future medical services for providers, insurers, plaintiffs, and defendants. Besides work in litigation, Dr. Piper has provided analysis of Certificate of Need applications and the economic impacts of proposed legislation.

HLNoffers Peer-reviewed methodologies and Appellate court proven testimony by experienced professionals who have provided consulting services and conducted audits and investigations for hundreds of hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers nationwide. HLN's experts have provided expert testimony in administrative and regulatory proceedings, as well as in state and federal courts for civil and criminal cases, for plaintiffs and defendants.

HLN provides experts in: medical billing, reasonableness of charges, reasonable value of medical services, Medicare & Medicaid reimbursement and compliance, clinical documentation, medical record coding, economic damages, insurance disputes, lost profits and false claims. HLN's founder co-authored two editions of the AMA's best selling Mastering the Reimbursement Process book. 

Areas of Expertise:

Accounting Antitrust APCs Billing Clinical Documentation Compliance Programs Contractual Disputes Cost Reports Damages Quantification Debt Restructuring DRGs Electronic Health Records ERISA False Claims Forensic Accounting Fraud HIPAA

ICD & CPT Coding Investigations Insurance Claims Managed Care Contracting Medical Necessity Medical Records  Medicare & Medicaid Physician & Clinic Services Practice Assessments Professional Standards Rate Setting Reasonable Values RAC & ZPIC Audits Self Disclosure Statistical Sampling UCR Charges Valuations

HLN's Consultants include:

Certified Public Accountants (CPA) Advanced Coding Specialists – Anesthesia (ACS-AN) Certified Coding Specialists (CCS and CCS-P) Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) Certified Evaluation and Management Coder (CEMC) Certified Forensic Interviewer (CFI) Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) Certified Healthcare Chart Auditor (CHCA)  Certified Healthcare Risk Auditor (CHCRA)  Certified Healthcare Chart Auditor - Facility (CHCAF)  Certified Healthcare Chart Auditor - Surgical (CHCAS)  Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (CIRA) Certified Legal Nurse Consultant (CLNC) Certified Manager of Patient Accounts (CMPA) Certified Managed Care Professional (CMCP) Certified Medical Practice Analyst (CMPA) Certified Patient Accounts Representative (CPAR) Certified Professional Coder (CPC and CPC-H)

Certified Professional Medical Auditor (CPMA) Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) Credentialed Coding Experts (CCS, CPC-H and CPC-P) Dental Practice Management Consultants Emergency Medical Technician (EMT Facility Coding Specialist (FCS) Forensic Accountants Home Health and Hospice Management Consultants Hospital, SNF & Clinic CEO, CFO and PFS Managers Licensed Insurance Agents and Counselors Masters in Health Administration (MHA) Medical Professionals (MD, DO and DC) Medical Technologist (MT - ACSP) Physician Practice Management Consultants Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) Registered Nurses (RN) Professional Coding Specialist (PCS) Radiology Certified Coder (RCC) Statisticians

View Healthcare Law Network's Expert Witness Profile.

Dennis E. Coleman & Associates has been providing Healthcare Management Services to various healthcare provider clients since 1990. They offer services in a variety of areas, including, but not limited to:

Physician / Hospital Collaboration Medical Staff Development Business Development Operations Management Interim Hospital Management

Policy & Procedure Development Human Resources Management Marketing & Sales Delivery System Development Strategic Planning

Principal, Dennis E. Coleman, JD, MPH, has over 40 years of experience in Hospital and Healthcare Management. Mr. Coleman's academic background includes a Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern University in Los Angeles and a Masters in Public Health degree with a Hospital Administration major and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, both from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mr. Coleman was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Community & Mission Hospital located in Southern California. He has also served as a part-time faculty instructor in hospital administration and healthcare management at both California State University, Northridge and California State University, Los Angeles. He currently maintains a national consulting and expert witness practice specializing in hospital administration / healthcare management.

View Dennis Coleman's Expert Witness Profile.