How do you protect yourself legally when it comes to practicing across state lines? This is a really common question that we get here at Dietitian Boss. So today we went into the Dietitian Boss library where our lawyer, Danielle Liss, for not only for us, but also for our clients, she's our team lawyer, has been able to provide some context.
So we had our clients submit questions about Licensure and international laws. And Daniela's went ahead and read them to give her perspective as a lawyer. So I hope that you enjoy today's episode as we pulled a clip from inside of our library. If you want to learn more, submit your questions and be a part of our community.
I do invite you to join the library at dietitianboss. com. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. There's never going to be that perfect answer, but my goal is to help you to be able to analyze it so that you feel comfortable. With whatever level of risk you are comfortable with, because sometimes it is a matter of whether you are comfortable taking certain types of risks or not with the type of services that you offer.
Um, so let's dive in and our first question. What so Sarah lovingly. I appreciate this kind of group, the questions together into different categories. So the first four questions. Are they have a lot of overlap and that is how do I deal with international clients or I am international? How do I put all this together?
And my best response for this, besides saying it depends, I'm going to try not to do it, but it will come out. Sorry for that. So the best thing to keep in mind is these are going to be the same types of considerations for whether you are doing nutrition and education. Or MNT. So most other countries, and when I say that, like I've done enough research into the English speaking countries.
So UK, Australia, Canada. I know it goes far beyond that. And I just, I have not done in depth research unless a particular client has needed it. So those are the ones that I'm generally referring to are those. English speaking countries that I think a lot of folks are likely to get their clients from.
Most countries have very similar licensure laws to what we do and with that they also have different laws about what can and can't be done. Generally speaking, nutrition education is something that is going to be allowed, whereas MNT or the practice of dietetics is not. So if you have structured your program so that you are providing generalized nutrition education, You are likely going to be okay if you are working with people who are from a different country.
If you have anything that is a little bit borderline and closer to MNT, like if you're offering anything that's customized or individualized, or you are Potentially talking about tests. Like I think, and I know that for some folks, like the tests become much easier or much not easier, much harder when you're trying to send them to someone who is overseas.
So that might not even be an issue, but I think that at that point, if that is the type of program that you have, that's where you're going to need to more carefully look for yourself. And if you are taking applications from people that are asking for location, you can probably start to put some parameters in place for yourself.
So it might be okay, I can talk to people who are from the following, but these countries might not be okay with exactly whatever the type of program that I have is. So it will, there will be some points of it where you will just need to dive in and say, okay, Here's what my, my program generally is. Are there pieces of my program that are not general nutrition education?
Which pieces may be an issue? Where can I offer them from where my clients are coming from? And honestly, I view it as being very similar to the type of analysis that you are already doing for. Your us clients. Um, just because some of the practice exclusivity states are harder than others. Um, in terms of, I don't want to say harder, but stricter is probably the better word in terms of what they will classify as nutrition education versus what is the practice of dietetics.
So like my, I, I love to pick on, I think it's North Dakota and this conversation because they have one of the absolute hardest statutes in terms of, there's just no exceptions written into it. Like most of the states, like the statutes are pretty long, whereas North Dakota is a couple of paragraphs. So I think that that's part of the problem is it's just a really short statute.
So there's not a lot built into it. So you've got to think about it from that perspective. Like, are there places where you could potentially accept a client where there might be a slight risk to it? Or do you just say to yourself, you know, no, I can't work with a client who is from that area because either.
And that might be you're not comfortable with it, it might be that you think that you might veer too much into MNT, or perhaps you might limit your services more there. I have some clients who do group programs that might also include an element of testing. That goes along with it. And so for those clients who are in practice exclusivity states, they will say, you know, I can't do the following if you'd like to order these tests on your own.
I have some, whether it's PDFs or like a module in their course, whatever it looks like. I have some resources that you can consult if you want more information on it, but I am not able to give you one on one information. Um, so that's kind of what I want you to keep in mind there is really look at what is involved in your program.
If you are talking like just general healthy eating or weight loss is typically a fairly safe one, unless you are talking about weight loss that is particular for a condition. Of some sort where you're getting more into the details about that condition. A lot of times those are, I don't want to say safer bets, but those are.
more widely accepted from being from wherever. Um, so that's kind of my general answer. So now I want to look at these particular questions and see if I have gotten through the answer there. So first we had Julie ask, what considerations do we need to know when working with someone from the UK or another country signed on a client who lives in Wales and have been working with her?
Is this okay? Or should I have not taken her on as a client? That is going to be completely dependent on your programming. Now I can't give you an opinion based. On your particular program, but kind of look at just what we said. Is it more generalized and is it one on one? What does that look like? And then if you need to, then you could take a look at, you know, what the particular statute is there.
In terms of licensing. Um, then we have a question about living in Australia and a US registered dietitian becoming an Australian dietitian.
I'm sorry I don't know how to maybe it depends. I think that in terms of whether or not you want to apply for the other credentials. It can largely depend on the type of program that you're offering. Who you are working with and the other piece that's going to be important for you because you are living in another country is, is there any scrutiny that would be placed on you for doing that type of work without a license if it is something that would require licensure.
Now, if you said to them, you know, I'm us based on dealing with us. clients, here's X, Y, and Z. That might be a different conversation. But I think that unfortunately, I think this is a very particular example where it might be somewhat. Harder to make, uh, a specific, or I should say a general recommendation about how you should move forward with it.
Uh, let's see. Next we have Tara started accepting international clients. Don't know where to start. So in terms of how it would impact your contracts, I don't think it necessarily needs to impact your contracts. So if you are, again, assuming that what you're doing is a general. Non MNT education type program.
Your contract would honestly be very similar. What you do want to make sure of there is that it is probably clear that what you are using always really make sure that you've got listed US dollars because that can be A question sometimes, um, make sure that it's very clear what law is going to apply. So, you know, state like U.
S. Federal laws, this is the kind of law that would apply. But generally speaking, your contract itself is still going to be very similar. If you've got any concerns that there would be issues with attendance because of time zones, that might be something to also input is to say, you know, the calls are always at This time, like I am Pacific time in the U S so that can get a little bit tricky for me if I'm dealing with folks who are in the UK, I was working with a consultant once who was in Ireland and I was on the phone at like 7 a.
m. For her last hour of the day, just it's, you know, logistics, right? So I think that those are some of the things to look at. Um, and I think this might get into some other pieces, but one thing that I do want to point out is I've seen a lot of people who will ask, Well, can I just tell them that I won't be liable if there's a problem.
You can ask them to agree to a number of things the question becomes would it be upheld, like, I'm here for your worst case scenarios right so if you ended up in court over something what a court uphold it. No, you can't. You can't waive your way out of licensure and a state who has those licensure laws would still be able to pursue you if you were practicing without a license in those states.
So no matter what is in your contract there you can put a lot of things in it, in an attempt to protect yourself and so that the client doesn't bring an action and that they are clearly doing these things with knowledge, but you can't necessarily Avoid a licensure board looking at you just because you had an individual contract with them.
Now you could certainly use it to say, my contract is very specific that I am not providing MNT. I am not providing any type of individualized consultations. I'm not doing any of the following things. So that gives you additional evidence there. But if you were to say, I'm providing you MNT and you live in Illinois and I live in California, knowing that Illinois is a very strict state, you can't necessarily waive.
the fact that their licensing board could still receive a complaint and could still pursue it. Okay. Back into this piece of the questions, um, for Alejandra, I'm a registered dietitian in the UK. When I opened my coaching group to people, not only from the UK, but also from the U S any precautions that you need to think about nutrition education, not MNT, as long as that's what you were doing and you know, it's nutrition education.
I think that you are okay because it is General information you wouldn't necessarily need to have. The any type of licensure for it in one of the states. Um, there's still a handful of states that I would look out for. Like again, North Dakota is I think it's the Dakotas and maybe Delaware is the problem, which given the fact that just knowing that they are smaller population states, like the likelihood, you know, probability wise that you're going to get people from them is probably fairly slim.
But if you have the ability to screen out You know, just knowing where they came from. I don't ever think it's a problem for you to send something back and say, Hey, I am so glad that you were excited about this. You aren't able to do this program. So like, let's say you've got multiple offers. I know we are concentrating on offering like one thing, but let's say you get to a point where you have a standalone course as well, where they can do it without a group component, without any type of coaching component.
They can certainly take that information and do what they want with it, but you're not involved in a way that's potentially going to cause any issues for you. Okay, I think that covers the international grouping. Special thanks to Danielle Liss for providing her time to us today at Dietitian Boss and providing you with resources when it comes to practicing guidelines for legal protection across state lines.
You can learn more about Danielle Liss, our team lawyer who can also help you at dietitianboss. com under the resources tab where we have her listed under the legal. Section. Additionally, if you're interested in getting more support, we invite you to join the library. It's our membership here at dietitian boss, where you can learn how to grow your business and become legally legit through all the resources we have, not only from accounting, finance, reimbursement, business growth, but also legal compliance.
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.
