Vocational Forensics Expert Witnesses: 6

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.

Matthew E. Sprong, Ph.D., CRC, LCPC, CLCP, CADC, CVE, is the President of Oak Leaf Consulting Group, LLC, and has been providing Vocational Rehabilitation related services since 2009. He currently holds joint appointments as an Assistant Professor at Lock Haven University, and a Rehabilitation Counselor at the Department of Veteran Affairs. 

Dr. Sprong has performed hundreds of comprehensive vocational evaluations, job placement services for veterans and people with disabilities, and intensive job development activities. He has over 30 peer-reviewed journal article publications, has over 60 professional presentations, teaches graduate level rehabilitation counseling students, and is involved in state and national service endeavors. He also teaches Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Courses at the Graduate level for future Rehabilitation Professionals.

Litigation Support: Dr. Sprong provides Forensic Rehabilitation Services utilizing his knowledge, skills, and abilities to determine the employability / placeability of persons who become injured. Specifically, he performs transferable skills analysis, labor market analysis, vocational testing, and job placement services

Dr. Sprong has over 10 years of experience testifying as a Vocational and Life Care Planning Expert in private practice. He is currently a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Certified Life Care Planner, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, and Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor.

Areas of Expertise: 

View Oak Leaf Consulting Group's Consulting Profile.

Dr. Christopher A. Lowery, DHSc, CLCP is a Clinical Health & Rehabilitation Consultant with a special interest in helping individuals and organizations with public health impairment issues.

Since 2002, Dr. Lowery passion is to educate, empower and provide hope to individuals that deal with Catastrosphic Health Impairments by educating them on how to live a better quality of life due to poor health care conditions, which will address social, cultural and behavioral barriers across all diverse populations.

He currently hold the following degrees at University of North Texas, Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Studies (07); University of Oklahoma, Master of Arts in Human and Health Administration Services (10); Capital University Law School, Post-Speciality Certificate in Life Care Planning (12); University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Post-Master's Certificate in Rehabilitation Counseling (14); and Nova Southeastern University, Doctor of Health Science in Global Health (16).  

Due to the broad knowledge of education, he practice as an expert on the following topics: expert testimony, litigation support, vocational evaluations, employment support/job placement, earnings capacity evaluations, rehabilitation consulting, medical life care planning, formulate reviews/opinions on independent medical examinations, disability case management, and a wide range of public health, medical, psychological and psychosocial aspect of disabilities. 

**If you have a case that needs Dr. Lowery's expertise, please feel free to give his office a call for a free consultation.

Note: Please see below or website for more expertise areas. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Christopher Lowery's Consulting Profile.

Erin O’Callaghan BS, MA, JD, CRC, NCC, LPC, CLCP, is a Life Care Planner, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, and Licensed Attorney with over 15 years of experience as a Rehabilitation Professional.

Ms. O’Callaghan has consistently provided the highest standards of professional ethics while staying current with the needs of modern and complex litigation. Her experience and training gives a unique perspective as a forensic rehabilitation evaluator. She has an in depth understanding of the evidentiary requirements of an expert’s evaluation and conclusion, including the importance of following an accepted methodology in the process and preparation of an opinion. 

Ms. O’Callaghan is a member of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, International Academy of Life Care Planners, Michigan Rehabilitation Association, and the Michigan Bar Association. She is also a qualified Vocational Expert by the Social Security Administration. 

Erin O’Callaghan has been providing Litigation Support to counsel for Plaintiff and Defense for 15 years. She has provided over 1,000 cost projections and has testified in both Federal and State cases. She has specialized knowledge of the Affordable Care Act, Social Security issues and Medicare Set Asides. Her services include case management, earning capacity evaluations, life care planning and lien disputes. 

Litigation Support Services for:

• Tortious Injury / Negligence
• Medical Malpractice
• Worker's Compensation
• Auto No Fault
• Wrongful Death
• Long Term Disability
• Divorce
• Lien dispute
• Special Education

View Erin O’Callaghan's Consulting Profile.

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Evaluation & Treatment
• Forensic Testimony (Consultation, Evaluation Treatment Following Trauma or Injury)