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From The March 2001 Issue of Nutrition Science News
Dietitians to Serve Medicare Patients
Washington—Beginning Jan. 1, 2002, registered dietitians will be eligible to serve as Medicare providers for patients with diabetes or kidney disease. The Medical Nutrition Therapy Act, passed last December, grants Medicare patients access to medical nutrition therapy—diet modification and counseling, for instance, as well as medical foods for pressure ulcers, enteral nutrition (delivered via tube) and parenteral nutrition (delivered via I.V.) for those unable to ingest or digest.
Patients who receive medical nutrition therapy require fewer hospitalizations and medications and have a lower incidence of complications, according to the Chicago-based American Dietetic Association (ADA).
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