Tell Congress: Let ALL Nutrition Professionals Get Reimbursed for Obesity Counseling!

HR 2415, the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act of 2013, would allow Registered Dietitians (that is, dietitians who go through the AND’s credentialing program), Certified Diabetes Educators, and instructors trained and certified by the National Diabetes Prevention Lifestyle Coach Training Program (funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to perform intensive behavioral therapy, communicate nutrition plans to an individual’s primary care physician or practitioner, and be reimbursed for these services by Medicare.

Registered Dietitians (RDs) are allowed to perform services and receive reimbursement on their own merits, while other nutrition professionals, even those with higher educational credentials and twice as many clinical hours to their credit, are excluded unless they have gone through one of the other two listed programs. In other words, the bill would create a distinction that does not currently exist in federal law (the Social Security Act, which controls Medicare, provides equal treatment for RDs and other qualified nutrition professionals).

Please write your representative and ask him or her to amend the bill to expand Medicare reimbursement to all qualified nutrition professionals!

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Dear [Decision Maker],

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As your constituent, I was disturbed to read the details of HR 2415. The bill creates a monopoly for the Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), the organization that pushed for the bill's introduction on behalf of its membership, Registered Dietitians. RDs would be allowed to perform intensive behavioral therapy, communicate the nutrition plan to the individual's primary care physician or practitioner, and be reimbursed for these services by Medicare, while other nutrition professionals -- even those with higher educational credentials and twice as many clinical hours to their credit -- would be excluded!

Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) services for people with diabetes are covered under Medicare part B. Currently, federal rules state that RDs or qualified nutrition professionals may provide services so long as they meet certain education and experience requirements and have been certified by a national nutrition organization. If other qualified nutrition professionals can provide MNT services under Medicare, why in the world should they be edged out of reimbursement for obesity management services?

More importantly, it is difficult to believe that the AND is qualified to address our obesity crisis, considering their widely known conflicts of interest: AND receives funding from junk food companies like Coca-Cola, Hershey, Council, Mars, and PepsiCo -- the very agents of the obesity epidemic. Furthermore, they conduct continuing education courses sponsored by Coke in which RDs are told that sugar, artificial colors, and nonnutritive sweeteners are perfectly fine for children, and concerns to the contrary are merely "urban myths"!

RDs are credentialed by the Commission on Dietetic Registration, a private organization. "Registered Dietitian" is not a government-based credential, so there is no reason it should be awarded preferential treatment over other credentialing organizations -- particularly when it excludes those who possess Masters and PhDs in nutrition from accredited colleges and universities, as well as professionals qualified by other worthy nutrition credentialing organizations.

Access to a variety of nutrition professionals is vital to consumers: it allows them to choose a practitioner who aligns with their natural health lifestyle and values. With obesity as epidemic and as costly as it is, why should only one organization's nutrition professionals be given the exclusive right to counsel patients on ways to treat it? Please amend HR 2415 to expand Medicare reimbursement to ALL qualified nutrition professionals!

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]

Protecting Natural Health