Food For Thought

NCP Examples Needed

Don't forget to fax to Sam or the office three examples of your assessment or progress notes incorporating the NCP. We will review and determine where additional training is needed for all of us based on examples sent in.

Issue: 118

December 20, 2011

Greetings!      

ADA has been urging its members to support RDs as the nutrition expert for inclusion in Medicare reimbursement for obesity treatment. Please review the following ADA message excerpts and take action!

ADA's Whitehouse Petition 

ADA continues to work with members of Congress and the White House regarding the recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' decision to exclude registered dietitians from direct billing for intensive behavioral therapy for obesity in primary care.

Please consider signing ADA's petition to President Obama to urge CMS to include RDs in obesity treatment. We need 25,000 signatures for the White House to review and still need about 4000 more. Go to this link and create an account and sign the petition: http://wh.gov/DWX
  

Announcement of this petition is being pushed out through ADA's social media, Eat Right Weekly and various electronic mailing lists, electronic communities and leadership groups.
 
We encourage you to post it to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as sharing with clients and colleagues.   With everyone's help, we're confident we can easily surpass the minimum goal to address this issue.

ADA is urging CMS to reconsider its decision (CAG-00423N), and the help of all members - and that of patients, co-workers, other health care professionals, family and friends - is needed to make our campaign a success. Decisions such as this affect the dietetics profession as a whole and could affect any member in the future as your career path unfolds.
  

Here is what RDs can do today, taking just a few minutes of your time to make an impact that will be felt for years to come: 

• Sign ADA's petition. We have just passed 20,000 of the 25,000 signatures needed to petition the Obama administration to urge CMS to reconsider.
• Use ADA's Grassroots Manager to send a letter to your members of Congress.
• Spread the word via social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.

More information, including letters to members and nonmember registered dietitians from ADA's President Sylvia Escott-Stump, MA, RD, LDN, and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Babjak, is available on ADA's website. This page also contains links to the White House petition and ADA's Grassroots Manager.