ABSTRACT
Nutrition and nutrition-related medical diagnoses are the basis for medical assessment and the administration of patient nutrition care. Standards of nutrition care are directed to quality treatment but reimbursement issues drive treatment access, and reimbursement is being closely tied to outcomes and costs versus benefits. The recent emphasis on evidence-based medicine and outcomes has stimulated the collection of data to reinforce the cost benefit for professional nutrition services, usually provided by a registered dietitian. Registered dietitians are currently the single identifiable group with the standardized education, clinical training, continuing education, and national credentialing requirements necessary to be directly reimbursed as a provider of nutrition therapy. Professional services may include counseling for preventing disease (primary prevention), for detecting asymptomatic disease or risk factors at early, treatable stages (secondary prevention), for disease treatment (tertiary prevention), and to promote normal growth and development.
