Author Block: RACHEL J. FENSKE, EMMA L. OSPELT, DANIEL R. HIMSWORTH, GRACE FRANKLIN, REBECCA LANGER, WHITNEY N. BEATON, SIHAM ACCACHA, M. TRACY BEKX, ELIZABETH A. MANN, Boston, MA, New Hyde Park, NY, Madison, WI
Introduction and Objective: Clinical practice guidelines demonstrate the importance of dietitians providing routine care for people with diabetes. The implementation of these guidelines in practice can be challenging due to scheduling and billing practices. The primary objective of this work was to assess utilization of diabetes dietitians in clinical practice across adult and pediatric diabetes centers participating in the T1DX Quality Improvement (QI) Collaborative.
Methods: An annual survey was administered from August-October 2025 to 64 centers participating in the T1DX-QI Collaborative. Descriptive analysis of reported data was completed.
Results: Responses were collected from 63 of 64 centers (98%); 67% were pediatric centers and 33% were adult centers. For both pediatric and adult centers, 85% report billing for dietitian visits. Only 35% of pediatric centers, while 68% of adult centers, reported that the dietitians were required to be Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialists. Dietitian visits were more likely to be combined with a provider visit for pediatric centers and 68% of pediatric centers reported that their patients had at least 1 dietitian visit per year (compared to 40% of adult centers).
Conclusion: Professional billing for dietitian visits is a common practice across centers. Scheduling practices and credentialing requirements for diabetes dietitians vary across pediatric and adult centers participating in the T1DX-QI Collaborative.
