Insurance Information & Frequently Asked Questions
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Nourish accepts most insurance plans, so working with one of our knowledgeable, experienced, and compassionate registered dietitians is beneficial both to your health and to your bottom line.
Click on “Insurance” or “FAQs” below for information about insurance coverage or to get answers to our most frequently asked questions. Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Please give us a call or text at 410-370-0415 or send an email.
Updated 5/2023
Existing clients log in here for the portal: https://nourish.intakeq.com
Insurance Information
We accept most health insurance plans and 95% of our clients use their health insurance to cover their appointments!
Your claims will be billed out of either Maryland or Georgia. Coverage varies greatly between plans and between states. Please scroll down for help determining what your plan covers. We have years of experience billing insurance and we work diligently to make sure your visits are covered, often without a copay. If insurance declines to cover your visit(s) for any reason, you are responsible for payment.
We have listed some information below regarding insurance coverage for nutrition therapy based upon our knowledge and/or experience to date with the companies. Please understand that we cannot know the details of each plan and that the information below is not a guarantee of coverage. We do not regularly check benefits for clients so it is your responsibility to know what your plan covers and what your portion of the cost is. After looking at the following information, if you would like to call your insurance company to verify benefits, we have a worksheet of what to ask.
We bill out of Maryland and Georgia. We are able to take any BCBS PPO from any state in the USA.
- Because we bill out of Maryland and Georgia we are only able to accept HMO plans in these states.
- We accept PPO plans nationwide
CareFirst HMO, PPO, BlueChoice
- A doctor’s referral is not required.
- A medical diagnosis is not required as nutrition is covered as a preventive service.
- CareFirst plans cover unlimited visits.
Federal BCBS (FEP)
- Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Federal Employee Program (FEP) covers unlimited nutrition visits annually
- No diagnosis or referral required
CareFirst Community Plan
- We are unable to accept managed Medicaid plans
CareFirst Administrators
- Nutrition counseling varies greatly among CareFirst Administrators plans and varies by employer.
- Give us a call at 410-370-0415 and we can discuss your particular plan.
Anthem BCBS
- A doctor’s referral is typically not required for PPO plans.
- A doctor’s referral may be required for HMO plans and must be submitted directly to the insurance company.
- A medical diagnosis is not typically required as nutrition is covered as a preventive service.
- Anthem plans typically cover unlimited visits.
Other state BCBS Plans (BCBS of Illinois, TX, MA, Premera, Regence, etc.)
- We can accept any out-of-state BCBS plan but coverage varies greatly and we cannot guarantee coverage or if a diagnosis is required.
- BCBS TX, BCBS AL, BCBS MA, Regence, Premera PPO plans do not need a referral and typically have no copayment
Highmark BCBS
- A doctor’s referral is typically not required for PPO plans.
- A medical diagnosis is not typically required as nutrition is covered as a preventive service.
- Highmark typically requires copayments or deductibles to be met
BCBS New Mexico
- A doctor’s referral is typically not required.
- A medical diagnosis is typically required.
- Los Alamos plans vary in whether or not nutrition counseling is covered.
Anthem BCBS
- A doctor’s referral is typically not required for PPO plans.
- A doctor’s referral may be required for HMO plans and must be submitted directly to the insurance company.
- A medical diagnosis is not typically required as nutrition is covered as a preventive service.
- Anthem plans typically cover unlimited visits.
- Some self funded plans (MPI, Lucent) may require coinsurance or copayments
Federal BCBS (FEP)
- Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Federal Employee Program (FEP) covers at least 6 nutrition visits annually
- No diagnosis or referral required
- A doctor’s referral is typically not required.
- A medical diagnosis is not typically required.
- Most plans typically cover unlimited visits.
- Co-payments may apply
- Aetna Better Health of Maryland is a managed Medicaid insurance and we are unable to accept this
- Aetna plans provided by Howard County Public Schools and Howard County Government specifically exclude nutrition counseling
- A medical diagnosis is not required
- Cigna usually covers unlimited visits
- A doctor’s referral is not required.
- Coverage varies greatly between individual policies
- Some policies require a medical diagnosis for coverage or a referral from your physician, some do not.
- If your insurance card says “Referral Required” on the front you MUST have this referral sent directly to UHC from your physician PRIOR to your appointment.
- Copayments may apply
- UnitedHealthcare Community Plan is a managed Medicaid insurance and we are unable to accept this.
- Most plans cover unlimited visits with no referral or preauthorization needed.
- Copayments, coinsurance or deductibles may apply
We do not accept Medicare, managed Medicare plans and are unable to bill any health insurance that is secondary to Medicare.
We do not accept Medicaid or any managed Medicaid plans including:
- Amerigroup
- CareSource
- Priority Partners
- Aetna Better Health
- United Community Plan
- Jai Medical Systems
- CareFirst Community Plan (formerly UMMS Health Partners)
- Peach State Health Plan
- Any New Mexico Centennial plan, including BCBS Centennial, Presbyterian, and Western Sky
We do not accept Kaiser insurance.
We do not accept Tricare insurance
Oscar, including Cigna + Oscar, does not cover nutrition counseling.
FAQ
Our goal is to make nutrition counseling as accessible, affordable, and stress-free as possible. Appointments with your dietitian are rooted in conversation. We have found that exchanging information during nutrition counseling sessions is far more effective and less stressful when you aren’t rushing to get to our office or worried about getting stuck in traffic. Want to talk to your dietitian in your pjs? Feel free! We use HIPAA-compliant Zoom for all of our appointments so you can easily and comfortably connect from home, work or wherever you are, on any device you choose.
Fun fact: connecting virtually enables you to use your appointment time to cook in your own kitchen or go to the grocery store with your dietitian!
Submitting all of the requested information prior to your appointment gives you a running start toward meeting your goals! Your dietitian will review all of your information before your first session so that you can start working on your nutrition goals right away, rather than spending valuable time doing paperwork.
By the time of your first meeting, your dietitian already will have learned a lot about you based on your intake forms, including getting to know your health status, eating habits and nutrition concerns and goals. The conversation will continue at the session: you and your dietitian will discuss what you hope to achieve through nutrition counseling, and together you will work on setting goals, meal planning strategies, food suggestions, nutrition education and any testing recommendations. Lastly, you and your dietitian will make a plan for follow-up appointments to ensure accountability and success.
Your plan will be healthy, balanced and sustainable. All recommendations are customized to your specific needs.
You will follow up frequently with your dietitian to set goals and stay on track. In between appointments you can message your dietitian at any time in our secure portal.
Your dietitian will work with you to develop an individualized nutrition plan with meal ideas, suggested timing of meals and activities, and more. This plan will be customized to your needs; it will be based on your food preferences, lifestyle, and goals; and it will be healthy, balanced and sustainable.
At Nourish, we do not use pre-set meal plans because everybody has unique needs and preferences.
Everything at Nourish is completely individualized. When you schedule as a new client, you are not committing to a program and you will work with your dietitian on a schedule for follow up appointments based on your needs. We meet weekly with most of our clients to set goals, troubleshoot challenges and celebrate successes. In addition, you are able to message your dietitian at any time in between appointments in our secure portal. This is why we have so many successful clients!
Because many patients wait several weeks for an appointment we must strictly adhere to a 48 hour cancellation/late change policy. This policy states that you must call, text, or email at least 48 hours ahead if you need to make any changes to your appointment. Failing to respect this policy will incur a $75 and up fee. We appreciate your understanding as all clients who wish to be seen sooner benefit from this policy.
The main reason we do this is to encourage our clients to communicate promptly with us about changing or canceling an appointment (see “Do you have a cancellation policy?” above).
If any payment is due for your visit after a claim has been submitted, you will receive an invoice and explanation of the charges a week before we charge your card on file.
Your physician understands that many medical issues can be prevented or treated by making small dietary changes. Possibly this can help our patients avoid medications that can be costly and/or have serious side effects; and most importantly live longer, healthier and happier lives.
Being comfortable with your dietitian is essential to meeting your nutrition goals.
Since Nourish has so many dietitians on staff, switching to someone else is never a problem. If you are currently seeing a Nourish dietitian and would prefer to meet with someone else, please contact our office staff by email or phone and they can easily make the change for you.
In addition, we have many different specialties and our clients can easily consult with another specialist on our team while still working with your primary dietitian.
The short answer is that all Registered Dietitians (RD or RDN) are nutritionists but not all nutritionists are Registered Dietitian Nutritionists. Virtually anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, which makes it really tough to differentiate those with extensive nutrition education (i.e. CN or CNS) from those who took a weekend class or read a book.
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RD or RDN) is a nationally recognized credential and offers some guarantees. You know the individual has fulfilled specific requirements, including having earned at least a bachelor’s degree in nutrition science, completed a 1200+ hour supervised practice program and passed a national registration examination — in addition to maintaining extensive continuing education requirements for re-licensure. Our dietitian nutritionists are also licensed in states where that is a requirement.
Other practitioners who may claim to be nutritionists such health coaches, holistic nutritionists, nutrition therapy practitioners, personal trainers with “certifications” in nutrition, etc. may have little to no formal training in nutrition and their services are not eligible for insurance reimbursement anywhere in the US because they are not recognized as being nutrition experts.
We see individuals from all over the USA. Due to licensure laws, there are some states where we cannot provide virtual visits. However, if you live in one of the following states we are happy to meet with you and you can see any of our dietitian nutritionists:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Our fax number for all offices is 443-873-0249
Nourish Family Nutrition is in network with many plans and most of our clients use their health insurance benefits to pay for nutrition counseling. Please see our Insurance section for more information.
Our out of pocket rates for patients without coverage is $225 for an initial appointment and $125 for a follow up appointment. We can also supply a paid invoice for you to submit an out of network claim or to your Health Savings Account for reimbursement. We accept credit cards and HSA cards.
Insurance Verification Worksheet
If your insurance company is found in the above list, this means we are participating with your plan.
We are happy to submit the claims for your visits; however you should be aware that benefits for nutritional counseling can vary greatly among individuals. Not all policies contain benefits for nutritional counseling.
Here you will find a worksheet that will help you navigate the insurance verification process.
When calling your insurance company be sure to tell them that you are seeing an in-network registered dietitian.
Our NPI (national provider identification) number is 1124495957.
- Do my benefits include nutritional counseling? (Procedure codes 97802, 97803, S9470, 99404)_________
- If yes, am I covered under both my preventive and medical services? Preventive ____. Medical____
- Do you cover the preventive diagnosis code Z71.3?_______
- Are there any exclusions or limitations (such as limit to number of visits)? ______
- Are my visits subject to a deductible? If yes, has my deductible been met for the year?______
- Am I responsible for any copay or coinsurance for the visit?____________
