Working with Reformed Nutrition as a Provider
The website content and previous blogs may help you understand the “who” behind Reformed Nutrition. This blog is to help referring providers know what to expect, step-by-step, when referring their patients to Reformed Nutrition for Medical Nutrition Counseling.
STEP ONE: Provider and/or patient identifies the need for help from a dietitian.
A common scenario I imagine is when a patient presents with a nutrition-affected condition that is either not improving or progressing. You’re considering adding another medication to help manage it but the patient resists and wants more time. So, you advise the patient to follow up in “x” weeks to work on their diet…AND refer to Referred Nutrition for Medical Nutrition Therapy or preventative counseling to help.
Another common scenario, a patient has found me on their insurance website as an in-network provider and requests a referral. They may ask you for the referral first, or they may have already reached out to me and one or both of us requests the referral.
STEP TWO: Provider orders a referral to Reformed Nutrition for MNT and/or preventative counseling.
Provider faxes Reformed Nutrition a referral, including ICD-10 codes, an order for “medical nutrition therapy” (MNT), the patient’s insurance information, PLUS the patients most recent labs, H&P and/or visit summary, and a list of their medications. REFORMED NUTRITION’S FAX: 864-642-6949.
If the patient has come to me first, I will reach out to the office and fax our referral form, requesting the same information as above.
STEP THREE: Reformed Nutrition and the patient schedule their initial, 1-hour assessment. If the patient is local to Greenville, SC, I prefer a live, in-person assessment. If this is not possible, telehealth is an option.
STEP FOUR: Patient completes initial paperwork, including release of information for the referring provider, consent to treat and notice of HIPPA / privacy policies, their intake form, and other applicable forms as necessary.
STEP FIVE: Patient has their initial appointment and a follow-up is scheduled. The provider and the patient will receive a summary of the nutritional care plan.
STEP SIX: Since the initial assessment is basically discovery / fact-finding and rapport building, follow-up appointments are standard in order to begin the actual “work” on a patient’s nutrition. The first follow-up is typically 45-minutes (live preferable), and subsequent follow-up is usually 30-minutes. At this time, Reformed Nutrition does not require an exact number of follow-up appointments, that is ideally determined by the patient’s progress. However, sometimes insurance limits the number of appointments that they will cover. After each follow-up, the provider and the patient will receive a summary of the visit and progress with the nutritional care plan.
STEP SEVEN: Time to leave the nest! Your patient has done so well, met a lot of their goals, and they don’t need scheduled 1:1 follow-up anymore. I love my patients, and while I wish I could keep them forever, that’s never the plan. My purpose is to “teach” your patients to “fish” versus depend on me indefinitely. (If a change in their medical plan/condition occurs and we need to regroup/rerefer, we can certainly do that.) At this point, if you haven’t already, you make sure you’re following me on social media, you might even fill out a quick feedback survey for me, and then you run tell all your colleagues and patients what a great experience you’ve had with Reformed Nutrition. ;)
Questions? Please check out the FAQ page and reach out to me if more information is needed.
Next week! Stay tuned for a similar step-by-step summary of your patient’s work with Reformed Nutrition!