For Patients

In short: A dietitian can be a nutritionist, but a nutritionist cannot be a dietitian.

The key difference lies in education, training, and credentials. Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) are licensed healthcare professionals who must meet strict requirements, while the title "nutritionist" is not legally regulated and does not guarantee any formal training.

What Makes a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) Different?

To become an RDN, individuals must complete:

✔ A minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university with coursework approved by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND).
Effective January 1, 2024, a master’s degree is required to take the credentialing exam to become an RDN.

✔ An ACEND-accredited supervised practice program (also known as a dietetic internship), lasting between 7-24 months.

✔ A national registration exam administered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR).

✔ Ongoing education — RDNs must complete 75 continuing education credits every 5 years to maintain their credential.

The Risks of Unregulated Nutrition Advice

Since "nutritionist" is not a legally protected title, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist without formal education or credentialing. While some may have basic knowledge of food and diet, many lack the depth of training needed to assess the full picture of health and nutrition science.

Common concerns with unregulated nutrition advice include:

❌ Overemphasis on diet culture and weight loss – Many self-proclaimed nutritionists promote rigid food rules, misinformation, fad diets, or fatphobic messaging, which can harm both physical and mental health.

❌ Limited understanding of medical conditions – Without the ability to provide medical nutrition therapy (MNT),nutritionists are not qualified to safely address conditions like diabetes, digestive disorders, cardiovascular disease, endocrine disorders, or autoimmune conditions.

❌ One-size-fits-all approaches – Many non-credentialed nutritionists focus on trendy, restrictive, or oversimplified advice rather than personalized, evidence-based recommendations that consider metabolism, hormones, genetics, and overall well-being.

❌ Potentially harmful recommendations – Without proper training, some nutritionists may misinterpret lab values, promote unnecessary supplement use, or encourage dietary patterns that lack essential nutrients.

Why Work with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN)?

Unlike unregulated nutritionists, RDNs are licensed healthcare professionals who provide:

✔ Comprehensive, science-backed nutrition counseling tailored to your health needs and goals
✔ A weight-inclusive, whole-person approach to nutrition that prioritizes overall well-being, not just the number on the scale
✔ Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) for disease prevention and management
✔ Ethical, unbiased, and evidence-based nutrition care

Licensing in Montana

In Montana, anyone providing nutrition assessment and counseling must be licensed by the Board of Medical Examiners and registered with the Commission on Dietetic Registration. The RDN credential is recognized in many states as eligibility for dietetic licensure.

Additionally, RDNs can bill insurance for their services, while nutritionists cannot.

In short, an RDN is trained to see the full picture of health—not just food choices, but also metabolism, lifestyle, medical history, and long-term well-being.

We are in-network with the insurance providers listed below and are continuously expanding our network. Coverage varies by plan and is not guaranteed, so we encourage you to verify your benefits. Our team is happy to provide guidance to help you determine your insurance coverage for nutrition services—please reach out for assistance.

Accepted Insurance Plans

• Blue Cross Blue Shield

• PacificSource

• UnitedHealthcare

• Cigna

• Healthy Montana Kids

• Aetna

• UMR

• Allegiance

• Mountain Health CO-OP

• First Choice Health Networks

• Allied Benefits Systems

• Montana Medicaid*

• Medicare*

Medicare & Medicaid Coverage

• Medicare Part B and Montana Medicaid cover medical nutrition therapy (MNT) for diabetes, kidney disease, or if you’ve had a kidney transplant within the last 36 months with a doctor’s referral.

• Montana Medicaid covers all nutrition services for individuals 20 years old and younger.

• We offer reduced out-of-pocket rates for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.Contact us for details on current rates and insurance coverage options.

Most insurance companies cover all nutrition services performed by a dietitian. However, there are some specific plans that may not have nutrition benefits. We welcome you to call your insurance company to inquire about this or we can help you navigate this process.

Yes. We offer self-pay options and reduced rate packages to those without insurance.

After your appointment is scheduled, you will receive an email from Northern Nutrition Group with a link to the new patient intake forms. All paperwork is filled out online and HIPAA compliant.

Contact our office via phone (406-282-1398) or email (contact@northernnutritiongroup.com) and let us know that you are running late. We ask that you do not try to log into the session while driving or multitasking.

Yes, we are happy to have appointments with multiple people (partners, family members, friends, etc.) if what you are working on is in alignment with each other. However, if there are different goals for each person, we may recommend having individual appointments with separate dietitians with periodic joint appointments. Feel free to schedule a free 15-minute consultation to determine which appointment type would be the best fit for your situation.

Yes, Northern Nutrition Group uses a HIPAA-compliant virtual platform so we can meet patients wherever they are in Montana. We also have an office in Bozeman to see clients in person.

All appointments can be scheduled to fit your budget, starting at 30 min. We prefer the first appointments to be scheduled for 75-minutes to allow adequate time to complete the initial assessment. Follow-up appointments can be scheduled for 30-, 45-, 60-minutes.

Yes!