As a nutritionist, it is your goal to help your clients meet their nutritional goals and leave them satisfied with your expertise, but as you expand your business and services you open yourself to increased opportunities for misunderstandings and legal liability. Investing in comprehensive insurance protects your financial well-being and professional licenses if a client or third party decides to pursue legal action against you. Regardless of if you are self-employed, work for an employer who provides insurance, or a small business owner it is important to be aware of the different types of insurance available to you and ensure you are properly protected in case of an accident or lawsuit.

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional Liability Insurance is also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance or Medical Malpractice Insurance. This video offers insight into the benefits of having your own insurance beyond what may be offered by your employer. Professional liability insurance will protect you against claims that you have failed to preform a professional service or that you have been negligent in your service to a patient. Many insurance companies include State Licensing Board Defense Coverage as part of their professional liability coverage. Many professional nutritionist and dietitian associations have negotiated discounted rates for professional liability insurance, you may want to check with any of your professional memberships when you search for the right insurance company for you. Professional liability insurance only provides coverage for the individual named by the policy.

General Liability Insurance

This type of insurance protects your business from claims that contractors, vendors, employees, patients, or any third party could bring against you. General liability coverage is limited to property damage, libel, slander, negligence, and bodily injury related to business activities. General liability insurance provides protection to owners, employees, volunteers and most people who are working in an official capacity for your business.

Worker’s Compensation Insurance

Worker’s compensation insurance provides coverage for medical expenses, lost wages and protection from lawsuit if an employee (and in some policies a volunteer) is injured in while performing their job duties. Most states require that businesses provide worker’s compensation insurance and specific requirements will vary from state to state. Any insurance agency can help ensure your coverage meets the requirements of your state or you can learn more about your states requirements by contacting the appropriate state organization from this list provided by the United States Department of Labor.

Property Insurance

Property insurance provides coverage for medical equipment, your building and other business assets in case of fire, power surges, mechanical failure, natural disasters and criminal activity. The details of coverage will vary with different insurance providers and selected coverage levels. Some insurance policies even cover loss of income that results from an event that requires your business to shut down temporarily.

Cyber Liability

Many nutritionists electronically store and transmit sensitive patient records and personal information. Cyber liability insurance protects you if that data is compromised as the result of a cyber attack or data theft. Coverage can include judgments or settlements to clients whose information is exposed, legal expenses as a result of a data breech, HIPAA required client notification, credit monitoring services provided to clients, and marketing campaigns to help rebuild your business’ credibility after an attack.

Hired & Non-Owned Auto Insurance/Commercial Auto Insurance

This type of insurance provides coverage if you or an employee is in a car accident on work-related business. Commercial auto insurance is needed to cover company vehicles, vehicles you lend to employees and even your personal automobile as many personal auto insurance policies exclude work-related accidents. Hired & non-owned auto insurance provides coverage for rental vehicles, employees who drive their personal vehicles and vehicles provided by car sharing services.

Umbrella Liability Insurance

Umbrella liability insurance provides additional coverage if a settlement, judgment or damages exceed the coverage provided by your primary insurance. For example, if you carry personal liability insurance that only protects for a maximum of $500,000 and a judgment is issued against you for $800,000, your umbrella liability insurance would cover the $300,000 not covered by your personal liability insurance.

Business Owner’s Policy

A business owner’s policy combines many types of insurances into one policy and is usually less expensive than holding each type of insurance policy individually. This type of policy typically includes property insurance, general liability insurance, and worker’s compensation insurance with the ability to add any of insurances discussed above.

Nutritionists help individuals with a variety of health concerns including weight loss and/or management, as well as learning how to eat based on specific health concerns such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and food allergies or sensitivities. Whether you are considering becoming a nutritionist or simply want to see one for your own needs, one of the very first questions you may be asking is how much does it cost to see a nutritionist? There are many different types of nutritionists and dietitians available to clients, and because of this, the amount someone spends for their services can vary. Do get a good idea of what a nutritionist in your area charges, you should pick up the phone and call a few around the area to ask about their charges for service. Some nutritionists offer complimentary consultations for individuals, while other offices charge for the initial visits.

Insurance

In regards to health insurance and nutrition, a person needs to call their insurance company and see if their plan covers them for seeing a clinical nutritionist. Some offices will offer to call and help the client check their insurance as well. If insurance covers some visits they will let the person know how many. They may have a copay ranging from $10 to $40 (on average). However, not all insurance plans will cover someone for seeing a nutritionist. Insurance companies sometimes look at visits with clinical nutritionists as wellness or preventative health care. If a health insurance company does not cover for the consultation then that initial visit may range anywhere from $100 to $200. Some dietitians will offer home visits to patients which can add more to the initial charge as well. Follow up visits will most likely occur, and those can range anywhere between $50 and $150.

Some nutritionists will want to see lab results done which can cost anywhere from $50 to $200 depending on the lab panels that the nutritionist recommends. Those labs really vary on the individual’s health concerns, needs and goals. Not every patient is going to require the same amount of lab testing. Once again, this is something a person should ask their nutritionist about prior to scheduling a consultation with them.

Things to Look For

One important thing to watch for is making sure the person is scheduling a consultation with a licensed or certified nutritionist and not an individual trying to market their own health and wellness products. Some individuals who work individually will advertise themselves as nutritionists when they are not truly certified. A key thing to ask when meeting someone a person may want to work with is where they went to school and received certification. Also, it’s good ask about their business in general. Some are simply about promoting physical products they sell and they are the ones to avoid. True nutritionists and dietitians should not be selling you solely on their supplemental products.

Optional Charges

Outside of recommended lab testing, there may be some costs in association with healthy cooking classes or grocery shopping. Not all nutritionists offer these programs, but some do. Cooking classes can start as low as $10 and be as much as $50 a class depending on the type of the cooking class and experience of the individual teaching it. As far as grocery shopping, charges can go into the hundreds of dollars to have a personal shopper who helps the person learn what foods to buy and help stock their cabinets.

Overall, seeing a nutritionist is a very smart step towards achieving health goals. Research should always be done to make sure the individual or company is a good fit. The American Dietetic Association even offers an online tool that allows you to search for local nutritionists by zip code.

The terms “nutritionist” and “dietitian” are related to professionals who give advice about nutrition but are two distinctly different professions. The most basic difference involves accreditation. In order to be a dietitian, you need to meet stricter educational requirements, whereas a nutritionist may possibly be someone with limited education who gives themselves the title. Here are some other key differences between the two titles.

Nutritionist Description

While some nutritionists do have college degrees, others may have only taken a short nutrition course. The term, however, does not have the same legal protection given to the dietitian position. Some of the coursework that qualifies a student to become a nutritionist include Human Nutrition, Food and Nutrition, Food Science and Food Technology. Bachelor’s Degrees in these majors can qualify an individual for jobs such as:

• Food Journalists
• Dietitian Assistants
• Public Health Researchers
• Food Scientists for food manufacturers or retail outlets

Dietitian Description

A registered dietitian (RD) is a health professional that has earned either a 4 year Bachelor Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics or a 3 year Science Degree then a Master’s Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics with practical training. The term “dietitian,” which is also spelled “dietitian” in certain regions, is protected by law in Canada, The United States, Australia, The United Kingdom, South Africa and other countries. The work can be done in hospitals, schools or other public places and involves a wide scope of activities such as:

• working with patients who need special diets
• informing the public about nutritional studies
• educating health care professionals about nutrition
• studying and improving nutrition treatments
• diagnosing diseases and allergies related to nutrition

Similarities and Differences

While all dietitians are considered nutritionists, not all nutritionists are considered dietitcians. Not all states have the same requirements for nutritionists whereas a registered dietitian is certified by the Commission on Dietetic Registration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND). Even though it’s possible to become a nutritionist with no degree at all in some states, all registered dietitians have at least an undergraduate degree, commonly in nutrition.

Both nutritionists and dietitians typically analyze how food affects body chemistry. RDs are more likely to earn higher salaries and be featured by national media outlets but they will also have higher student loans on average.

Credibility

Since there are many authors who call themselves nutritionists and may not be qualified to give expert advice, it’s important to be cautious about anyone who does not have an extensive educational background in nutrition. While nutritionists are not held accountable for their advice and usually give medical disclaimers, registered dietitians belonging to professional associations are held legally accountable for their advice.

Some nutritionists are not certified, but in order to use the term Certified Clinical Nutritionist (CCN), they are required to take a six moth course and pass national exams. A Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) offers nutrition therapy and must have at least a Master’s Degree in Nutrition or related field.

About half of all registered dietitians have advanced degrees. AND emphasizes that only registered dietitians are qualified experts on nutrition. Due to these distinctions, dietitians are considered much more credible than nutritionists in the medical community.

Well Known Registered Dietitians

• Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN, NBC’s Today Show
• Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, Author of The Flexitarian Diet
• David Grotto, RD, LDN, Spokesman for Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
• Leah McGrath, RD, Ingles Markets (Ask Leah), WNC Parent Magazine
• Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, WebMD Columnist
• Rebecca Scritchfield, MA, RD, LD, ACSM Health Fitness Specialist
• Debbie Benner, MA, RD, CSR, Clinical Support at DaVita Inc VP
• Ashley Koff, RD, Ashley Koff Approved, The Dr. Oz Show
• Cynthia Sass, MPH, MA, RD, CSSD, Author