Healthcare Credentialing and Privileging Consultants: 3

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.

Jacqueline Bloink LLC is an independent organization that provides Healthcare Compliance Consulting, educational services, risk analysis, and fraud examinations. They assist organizations and entities to:

• Prevent or Identify Healthcare Fraud
• Build and Evaluate Compliance Programs
• Conduct Compliance Program Risk Analysis
• Evaluate Medical Chart Documentation
• Medical Coding / Forensic Compliance Education
• 1 Day Boot Camp for Certified Professional Compliance Officer (CPCO)- AAPC Examination

Principal, Jacqueline N. Bloink, MBA, RHIA, CHC, CFE, CPC, CPC-I, has over 20 years of experience in the field of Healthcare Compliance, with educational degrees, certifications and awards in healthcare management, coding, billing, reimbursement, compliance, education, and fraud prevention and identification. 

Background - Ms. Bloink served as the Director of Compliance for the largest provider group in Arizona. For several years she worked as a Medical Coding Manager, Reimbursement Manager, and Compliance Liaison for a University Physician Group - Department of Medicine, and as Corporate Responsibility Auditor for a large 3 Hospital network. Her work includes both medium and small practice administration. 

Ms. Bloink is a Professor and Instructor in the area of Medical Coding, Billing, Health Information Management, and Healthcare Fraud. She is a national, state and local speaker (author) for such groups as ACFE, HCCA, AAPC, American College of Physicians, CLM, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, CA AHIMA, and others. In 2015, she was honored to be the recipient of the Arizona ACFE Sentinel Award “Truth Over Self” that acknowledged her assistance to the Office of Inspector General / Department of Justice with the largest Healthcare Fraud Case (FCA) in Arizona history.

View Jacqueline N. Bloink'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.