| name | alterlab-treatment-plans |
| description | Generates concise (3-4 page), focused medical treatment plans in LaTeX/PDF format across all clinical specialties — general medical treatment, rehabilitation therapy, mental health care, chronic disease management, perioperative care, and pain management — using SMART goal frameworks, evidence-based interventions with minimal citations, HIPAA compliance, and professional formatting. Use when drafting a brief, actionable patient treatment or care plan with measurable SMART goals and structured follow-up for any specialty. Part of the AlterLab Academic Skills suite. |
| allowed-tools | Read Write Edit Bash |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | Runs with Read/Write/Edit/Bash; producing PDF output requires a local LaTeX toolchain (pdflatex/xelatex). No API key required. |
| metadata | {"skill-author":"AlterLab","version":"1.0.0"} |
Treatment Plan Writing
Overview
Treatment plan writing is the systematic documentation of clinical care strategies designed to address patient health conditions through evidence-based interventions, measurable goals, and structured follow-up. This skill provides LaTeX templates and validation tools for creating concise, focused treatment plans (3-4 pages standard) across all medical specialties with full regulatory compliance.
Critical Principles:
- CONCISE & ACTIONABLE: Treatment plans default to 3-4 pages maximum (1 page preferred for standard cases), focusing only on clinically essential information that impacts care decisions
- Patient-Centered: Plans must be evidence-based, measurable, and compliant with healthcare regulations (HIPAA, documentation standards)
- Minimal Citations: Use brief in-text citations only when needed; avoid extensive bibliographies (0-3 citations max in a 3-4 page plan)
Every treatment plan should include clear goals, specific interventions, defined timelines, monitoring parameters, and expected outcomes that align with patient preferences and current clinical guidelines — all presented as efficiently as possible.
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when:
- Creating individualized treatment plans for patient care
- Documenting therapeutic interventions for chronic disease management
- Developing rehabilitation programs (physical, occupational, cardiac)
- Writing mental health and psychiatric treatment plans
- Planning perioperative and surgical care pathways
- Establishing pain management protocols
- Setting patient-centered goals using SMART criteria
- Coordinating multidisciplinary care across specialties
- Ensuring regulatory compliance in treatment documentation
Core Workflow
- Choose format and length. Default to the 1-page quick-reference card; expand to the 3-4 page standard format (first-page summary + details) only when complexity demands. See
references/document_formats.md.
- Build the mandatory first-page executive summary. Title + report info box + 2-4 colored key-findings boxes (goals, interventions, decision points). This page can often stand alone. Full spec and LaTeX skeleton in
references/document_formats.md.
- Pick the specialty template from
assets/ and fill its component sections. Component checklists per specialty (general medical, rehab, mental health, chronic disease, perioperative, pain) are in references/specialty_components.md.
- Write SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) for short- and long-term horizons.
- Apply professional styling with the
medical_treatment_plan.sty package — see references/latex_styling.md.
- Validate, then generate PDF. Run completeness and quality checks, compare against the quality checklist, then compile. See
references/templates_and_validation.md.
Six Specialty Plan Types
| # | Type | Template (assets/) | Use for |
|---|
| 1 | General Medical | general_medical_treatment_plan.tex | Chronic disease, acute medical, primary care |
| 2 | Rehabilitation | rehabilitation_treatment_plan.tex | PT/OT/SLP, post-surgery, injury recovery |
| 3 | Mental Health | mental_health_treatment_plan.tex | Psychiatric conditions, behavioral health |
| 4 | Chronic Disease | chronic_disease_management_plan.tex | Complex multi-condition long-term care |
| 5 | Perioperative | perioperative_care_plan.tex | Surgical/procedural pre-, peri-, post-op |
| 6 | Pain Management | pain_management_plan.tex | Acute/chronic pain, opioid-sparing multimodal |
Per-specialty required component breakdowns (assessments, goals, interventions, monitoring, education, risk mitigation) are documented in references/specialty_components.md.
Quick Generation
python scripts/generate_template.py
python scripts/generate_template.py --type one_page --output diabetes_plan.tex
python scripts/generate_template.py --type mental_health --output depression_treatment_plan.tex
python scripts/check_completeness.py plan.tex
python scripts/validate_treatment_plan.py plan.tex
pdflatex plan.tex
Professional Document Styling
Treatment plans can be enhanced with professional medical document styling using the medical_treatment_plan.sty LaTeX package (in assets/), which provides a color-coded clinical look with custom box environments (infobox, warningbox, goalbox, keybox, emergencybox, patientinfo) and styled medical tables.
For the full styling guide — color scheme, every box environment with examples, table formatting, compilation (XeLaTeX/PDFLaTeX), customization, installation, troubleshooting, and a worked styled-document example — see references/latex_styling.md.
Reference Index
| File | Contents |
|---|
references/document_formats.md | Length options (1-page / 3-4 / 5-6), Foundation-Medicine first-page summary model with LaTeX skeleton, concise-documentation rules, citation guidance, full best-practices (brevity, SMART, patient-centered, compliance, coordination) |
references/specialty_components.md | Full required-component checklists for all six specialty plan types |
references/worked_examples.md | Five end-to-end scenarios (diabetes, post-stroke rehab, MDD, TKA, chronic low back pain) with template, goals, interventions |
references/templates_and_validation.md | Template selection/structure, PDF generation, completeness & quality validation scripts, quality checklist, timeline generation, professional standards, cross-skill integration |
references/latex_styling.md | Styling package guide: colors, box environments, tables, compilation, troubleshooting |
references/goal_setting_frameworks.md | SMART and related goal-setting frameworks |
references/intervention_guidelines.md | Evidence-based intervention guidance |
references/regulatory_compliance.md | HIPAA and documentation compliance detail |
references/specialty_specific_guidelines.md | Specialty society guideline references |
references/treatment_plan_standards.md | Treatment-plan documentation standards |
Ethical Considerations
- Informed Consent: All plans should involve patient understanding and voluntary agreement to proposed interventions.
- Cultural Sensitivity: Respect diverse cultural beliefs, health practices, and communication styles.
- Health Equity: Consider social determinants of health, access barriers, and disparities.
- Privacy Protection: Maintain strict HIPAA compliance; de-identify all protected health information in shared documents.
- Autonomy and Beneficence: Balance medical recommendations with patient autonomy and values while promoting patient welfare.
License
Part of the Claude Scientific Writer project. See main LICENSE file.