Prior to the revision of federal regulations, only clinicians could order or change diets for patients. Changes to the regulations now allow hospitals to develop internal policies that would allow collaborative practice arrangements with dietitians and nutritionists to order and change diets for patients. The Massachusetts Board of Registration of Dietitians and Nutritionists recently clarified for MHA that these requirements are consistent with state scopes of practice and regulations, and therefore permitted in the commonwealth.
MHA encourages its members to consider adopting policies that would allow registered dietitians (RDs, also known as registered dietitian nutritionists, or RDNs) to have clinical order-writing privileges.