Virtual nutrition counselling is a service that connects patients with dietitians by video or phone call, and gives them meal plans for illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease. It is also called telenutrition, or medical nutrition therapy (MNT). The largest such services are in the United States, where the patient's health plan pays for the sessions, like any other treatment.
A dietitian is a trained professional who plans what a person should eat for their health. For many chronic conditions, food is part of the treatment. In the United States, a health plan can pay for dietitian sessions, often when a doctor refers the patient. Health plans include employers' plans and Medicaid, the government programme for people with low incomes.
Take, for example, a bus driver in Atlanta, Georgia, with type 2 diabetes. His health plan offers the service. He books a video session from his phone. The dietitian asks what he eats on a normal day. She finds that most of his sugar comes from sweet drinks and fast food during his shift. She sets three goals, such as carrying a packed lunch and switching to unsweetened tea. The app gives him a weekly meal plan made from foods sold at his nearby supermarket, within his budget, with a shopping list. He meets the dietitian four times over three months. Between sessions, the app records his meals and his weight.
After each session, the service sends a claim to his health plan. A claim is a request for payment. It carries a medical code that says what was done, for example a first assessment counted in blocks of 15 minutes. The plan's claims adjudication software checks the code and pays the service. If the plan's nurses also look after him through care management software, they can refer him to the service and see the dietitian's notes.
How is this different from digital diabetes management? A diabetes app reads blood sugar and suggests the next step automatically, at any hour. Virtual nutrition counselling is built around a person, the dietitian, and is billed session by session, like a visit to a clinic.