HEY, it’s your girl Amy P., The Reimbursement Dietitian,
I help simplify the reimbursement process for dietitians and Certified Nutrition Specialists who accept insurance. Today, I wanted to discuss functional nutrition and the testing that often accompanies it.
I work with MANY functional RDs who choose to accept a combination of insurance and self-pay in their practice. Honesty, you don’t need to choose between the two models. You need to know how to navigate both sides. Today, I would like to outline exactly what this looks like.
So, you have probably heard me say you can only bill insurance for the time you spend providing face-to-face medical nutrition therapy (MNT) with the patient. Therefore, the following services can’t be billed to insurance.
- Email correspondence with the patient, family members, or other providers
- Phone correspondence with the patient, family members, or other providers
- Time spent interpreting lab results and designing a dietary protocol or constructing a meal plan
- Functional tests (GI Mapping, MRT Testing, Dutch Tests, stool testing, etc.)
However, anything other than face-to-face MNT can be charged to the patient. This means you can still do your thing (practice functional nutrition) and get killer results as a functional RD. You need to know the scope of the services you can bill insurance.
As a functional RD, the results you can get with your clients are often incredible.
But not everyone can afford your services.
So, while the testing and interpretation of the lab results can’t be billed to insurance, the face-to-face consults where you deliver the results and protocols can billed to insurance.
Therefore, by accepting insurance in your practice, you can lower the cost of entry to work with you and HELP more people with your services.
YES. Your patients will need to pay out of pocket for non-face-to-face MNT. But you can create KILLER value-added packages based on their nutritional needs and then bill insurance for the time spent counseling the patient.
Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner
Everyone wins in this scenario. It’s time for you to take control, grow your practice, create wealth, and start living like the badass dietitian you are. While I am by no means a functional RD, I can teach you EVERYTHING you need to know about integrating insurance into your functional nutrition practice.
Need support? Of course The Reimbursement Dietitians has you covered
In my reimbursement coaching programs, I walk you step-by-step through the ENTIRE reimbursement process 😎
I teach you exactly how to get credentialed, bill & grow the crap out of our practice.
Ready to level up your function nutrition private practice game?
👉 Apply for my reimbursement coaching program.
👉Click HERE to learn more about my coaching program, or check out my epic pre-recorded Master Class on this EXACT topic.