Author: Stephanie Figon, MS, RDN, LD

Founder of NutriScape.NET. As a dietitian since 1992, Steph Figon has had experiences in consulting, 15 years in clinical, and has operated a private practice nutrition counseling office for since 2011. Connect on Linkedin

Learn Integrated Physiology

September 3, 2020

Learn Integrated Physiology

The Body In Real Life Is Complex and Integrated

One of the most stressful transitions in dietetics is going from didactic classroom learning, where everything is laid out and straight-forward, to the clinical setting, where nutrition and social factors interact with body systems in the settings of various diseases. Learning to see the whole picture involves integrating a foreign language of medical terms, and the seemingly endless complexity of intricate diagnoses and lab terms.

A Resource to Help You Put It All Together

Chubbyemu is a YouTube channel featuring Bernard Hsu, a physician who lays out medical cases of real patients. These are generally more interesting than the kind of cases you will see in person, but watching the whole series is a very practical and painless way of developing the knowledge base to make a comfortable transition into clinical dietetics.

Here are Some Typical Videos

Be sure to subscribe to the Chubbyemu channel to access hundreds of other videos. These are a few samples of the type of videos you will find. Enjoy.

The Keto Diet

2 Gallons of Coffee

Fifty Beers Per Day

Leftover Potato Salad

A Liter of Soy Sauce as a Colon Cleanse

A 14 Year Old Boy Ate 25 Laxative Brownies as a Joke

Grandma Ate 1 Pound Chocolate In 6 Hours

Man Drank 3 Liters Rum Everyday Since Age 13

A Clear Path to Insurance Billing for Private Practice Dietitians

July 2, 2020

Nutrition Practice Management

Superbills VS Insurance Billing

One of the main questions dietitians need to answer when starting a private practice is whether or not to offer insurance billing as a service to clients. Here are some of the issues to consider.

Psychology of Self-Pay

Over 40% of Americans would not be able to pay a $400 emergency expense out of pocket. Clients generally default to “No” when it comes to spending money. Clients are not sure what the benefits of working with you will be or whether it will truly be worth the cost. In this scenario, the dietitian must be more of a salesperson to get the client to see the legitimate worth of the partnership.

Psychology of Insurance Paying for Preventive Services

When nutrition services are covered by insurance, the client has already paid the insurance company for the nutrition counseling benefit. They may tend to see skipping a dietitian’s services as a waste of their resources. So when insurance pays for services, the client tends to default to “Yes”

Learning Nutrition Services Insurance Billing Is Challenging

The steps to becoming credentialed and contracted with insurance companies and learning insurance billing and coding are daunting for the new-comer to private practice. Most RDNs have had to learn by trial and error and that’s just not right.

Dietitians who have been through the start-up process will tell you that getting competent at billing as quickly as possible will allow your practice to achieve a profit much sooner.

A Solution for the Billing Beginner

Steve DellaCroche, RD at Nutrition Practice Management has put together an independent study program that walks you through the basics of setting up your billing.

This program has the potential of saving dietitians many hours of internet research and insurance phone calls so that they can get on to providing the nutrition services their clients need. Access the course at Nutrition Practice Management Billing Self-Study Course.