[00:00:00] Curious about protected titles. In today's episode, we have guest Danielle Liss, who was also our team lawyer. And we have taken an excerpt from one of the private calls inside of our dietitian boss library, where our team lawyer regularly comes in and answers your questions, how to legitimize [00:00:20] your dietitian business.
[00:00:21] I hope you enjoyed today's episode. So there's two questions here. One of which is about credentials, which I know there's another question on. So I will handle that separately. So Danielle, The first piece all depends upon if you are doing individualized work with those group [00:00:40] members, there are likely statutes that are going to view that as practice of dietetics.
[00:00:46] So you would need to likely funnel out which states those are. And usually like, Trying to see if I can remember one off the top of my head. Actually, I think Nevada, I live in Vegas. So I think that Nevada [00:01:00] is one of you pull up the licensure guide. They give like this list of what is included in practice of dietetics.
[00:01:06] And it will specifically say offering an assessment, a nutrition assessment, offering individualized counseling or advice, that type of thing. So they try to get fairly specific about what is considered as part of the practice, [00:01:20] which therefore needs the licensure. So I think that you could potentially handle a situation like this two ways, you may be able to say to them.
[00:01:30] I only offer these, maybe you treat them as add on services. I only offer these add ons to people who are in the following states and you have a list of states that [00:01:40] you feel comfortable with, or I've seen some people do. Basically have separate programs. Like, and I don't want to say there's separate programs, but it's like, you've got one program that has the add ons and then you have another version that doesn't have it.
[00:01:53] That's more just general information. And it, a lot of times it can depend on where your clients are [00:02:00] coming from, because if you only have like one person here and there, who's coming from a practice exclusivity state. Might not be a big deal for you to just funnel them out and say, you know, I, I can't offer you the following things.
[00:02:12] Maybe you adjust the pricing. If like the pricing of the tests is included, you know, there's a lot of ways that I think that you can wrangle it just to [00:02:20] be very clear. And for them, I would say, if that is a route that you go, just adjust the scope of work in their particular agreement to say, this will not include the following because you are accepting this as an information.
[00:02:33] Program only, not anything that might be MNT. So it's basically adding a little bit of a disclaimer. [00:02:40] Now, the second question in terms of what to include in marketing. So I think that this is a really great question. A lot of the practice exclusivity States will have restrictions on what you can and can't call yourself.
[00:02:56] And if you call yourself that you are potentially violating their statute. If you're [00:03:00] trying to market to people who live there a lot of times. And I actually pulled up one of the states just cause I needed somebody to pick on. So Georgia was my selection for today. So the ones that they protect, the titles that they protect are dietitian.
[00:03:14] Okay. LD and licensed dietitian. So it [00:03:20] depends on what your marketing looks like. If you're calling yourself, I know I saw one that was like the weight loss dietitian or like the weight loss nutritionist or any of those types of things. I think that yes, there is a potential that a state would say you are violating their [00:03:40] title loss.
[00:03:41] I think it is probably low probability that that would happen. If you are someone, I'm a very risk averse person. So I'm always going to say like, I'm, I'm a real follower. I want to know exactly what I can and can't do. If you want to ensure that you are 100 percent A okay, I [00:04:00] think that you can take a look and maybe you call it, you know, weight loss nutrition instead of weight loss nutritionist or things along those lines.
[00:04:07] I think the phrases that they are more concerned with are, if you are calling yourself An LD or licensed dietitian, or for the states that you certified. Cause I know there's like [00:04:20] CD and, you know, different things along those lines, depending upon which state's titles you're talking about. And one of them, I think doesn't refer to their folks as dieticians.
[00:04:28] They call them medical nutrition therapists. So it's like a completely different. Usually you are, if you've got your credential and you are an RD, [00:04:40] they can't take that away from you. You're an RD, right? So you can absolutely call yourself, you know, I am an, I'm an RD. It's really more about watching what those protected titles are and making sure that you're being cautious with those.
[00:04:55] And sometimes it's just playing around with the language a little bit. And when I say don't. [00:05:00] Include it in your marketing. I don't want you to think that you can't use your credential in there, because I think it holds a lot of weight, right? Like people want to know I'm working with somebody who's had this amount of education, who knows their stuff.
[00:05:14] And I think that it, it can be really important. So what you don't [00:05:20] necessarily want to do is throughout. I think there's a difference in using things biographically versus within all of your marketing copy. So if you are saying, I am a dietitian for throughout all of your marketing when what you are doing is providing.
[00:05:38] General information about [00:05:40] something you can phrase it and honestly have fun with your copy. I'm not a copywriter, but an example of something you could do is say, I took all of my years working as a dietitian with the following types of group of people, and I put together this amazing educational resource so that you can learn what some of my patients.[00:06:00]
[00:06:00] We're previously able to I am bringing this to a larger group like you can really, you can emphasize your background without necessarily saying that you are going to be serving as a dietitian in that particular program, because that's really what we're, In all honesty, that's what we're trying to walk the line [00:06:20] on is, are you serving as a dietitian for your group program or are you providing education?
[00:06:26] So what we want to make sure of is that when you are marketing, you are talking about it as though you are providing education, not just that you are kind of. interacting and seeing patients. So I know it's, it's a nuanced area. It's just one of those [00:06:40] things where it's, let's be, we're just going to make sure that you're, you're cautious with how you're using it.
[00:06:45] And if you are an LD in a particular state, be cautious in terms of using that. Just make sure it's clear. where you are stating you're licensed in. So I feel like it's New York is [00:07:00] seedy, but New York is not a practice exclusivity state. But if you were saying that, like, I would just expect to see, you know, licensed in New York or something along those lines, just in case it is also a protected term in another state and you don't want to kind of enter Any type of gray area with those States.
[00:07:19] Okay, [00:07:20] let's go into the next one. Boundaries between nutrition education and nutrition counseling or personalized nutrition recommendations. So let's see, nutrition counseling is not always perfectly [00:07:40] defined. And that's one of those terms that pops up in statutes. So that's why we tend to avoid it.
[00:07:46] Generally, when I think of counseling, it is going to be that you are interacting in a one on one way. And you are giving individualized recommendations that might not be a perfect definition for all 50 states but generally [00:08:00] speaking, I think that's one that you can kind of think of when you are trying to determine what is each piece.
[00:08:08] So I think that to me when you're kind of looking at what those boundaries are. Think of it as Am I educating somebody on a general principle [00:08:20] behind whatever it is that your program's about, or am I listening to what their specific issue is, and am I providing them with advice based upon whatever that is, and altering whatever I would have said in my educational piece?
[00:08:39] So [00:08:40] it's really more about can you be, are you providing general or are you providing something that is individualized and specific? That's how I usually try to define it. Now, if you are doing q and As, 'cause I know that that's what you're gonna see in a lot of group programs, right? You're gonna offer weekly, biweekly, whatever that looks like a q and a call, similar to what we're doing here.
[00:08:59] And if [00:09:00] that is what you are doing, I think that you are. You have ways to phrase it. And sometimes this is about wordsmithing, where you can, there are ways if they say, I have the following problem and here's what I am dealing with. You can answer it and say, you can try this, or you can say, you know, while I can't [00:09:20] give you particular advice.
[00:09:22] A lot of times people with similar issues may try X. And then you can always kind of couch it and say, you know, but because I'm not working with you in an individual basis here, I would strongly welcome you to talk to whomever your, your provider is so that they [00:09:40] know where they can get that individualized advice if it is needed.
[00:09:44] And if they're not in a practice exclusivity state and you do happen to offer like some one on one. Like add ons or whatever it is. And always figure out what that looks like. So that might be like a separate service.[00:10:00]
[00:10:01] Okay. So the next one that we're on is the question from Julie about the terminology in
[00:10:09] the licensing guide. So practice exclusivity typically means that you are not able to practice dietetics there, unless you have the appropriate licensure and [00:10:20] title. So that means if there is an exception. You might be able to do some work there. I think that Georgia is usually one that I like to pick on.
[00:10:30] So what Georgia has is they have an exception where if you're practicing for under five days. you can practice dietetics [00:10:40] there. Like that's an exception that they have built in. But if you also are from a practice exclusivity state yourself, you may be able to do up to 30 days there because it's essentially similarly situated licensing is kind of how they phrase it.
[00:10:54] So That's what we're looking at for practice exclusivity is those States where [00:11:00] you are not supposed to be doing this list of things that they've defined in their statute, which they are referring to as the practice of dietetics without having first gone through licensure there. And again, look for some of those exceptions, because sometimes if you can do a couple of days here and there, depending on what state it is, that's sometimes an option.
[00:11:18] Like if you just have somebody who [00:11:20] wants like one, one on one session with you to, Go over recommendations, you could fall into an exception there in terms of protected titles. What's important is kind of what we just talked about, not using whatever their protected terms are. So even if you are doing work with someone [00:11:40] who is in Georgia, you still shouldn't be referring to yourself as a Georgia licensed dietitian, because you aren't.
[00:11:47] And a lot of times that's what they're looking for is to make sure that people are not holding themselves out to the public. To be something that they are not. So if somebody in Georgia is looking for an LD, they should know that [00:12:00] that credential means that someone is, has passed the Georgia licensing exam.
[00:12:04] So just be cautious in terms of how you. use those titles that are listed there. I hope today's episode was helpful. If you want to learn more about Danielle lists, our team lawyer, check out the resources tab [00:12:20] at dietitianboss. com to learn how to access her, whether you're interested in her consulting services, or maybe using one of her templates that are made for dietitians, where you have access to contracts to protect both you and your clients when it comes to delivering service.
[00:12:35] Now, if you are interested in working with us and learning from our guest lecturers [00:12:40] like Danielle in a community where you can get your questions asked, I invite you to join Dietitian Boss Library. You can find more information and sign up at dietitianboss. com.
