Author name: Amy Shults, RDN, CDN, CDCES

S9470 is an HCPCS code used for medical billing, described as “nutritional counseling, dietitian visit.” S9470 is the original nutrition counseling procedure code as it existed before the Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) codes, 97802, 97803 and 97804, were introduced. Now that the MNT codes have been around, the S9470 code is used less commonly.

Additional hours of medical nutrition therapy for Medicare beneficiaries are covered if medically necessary and ordered by a physician. These additional visits are billed with HCPCS codes G0270 or G0271. Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans have coverage for G0270 while most commercial plans do not cover this code.

An ICD-10 code is a type of medical code used to represent diagnoses, symptoms and procedures. Dietitians need to use ICD-10 codes to bill insurance companies for nutrition counseling services. However, diagnosing medical conditions is not in a dietitian’s scope of practice, so using ICD-10 codes has to be done carefully.

Procedure code G0108 is defined as, “diabetes outpatient self-management training services, individual, per 30 minutes.” This code is used to bill for diabetes education that is provided one-to-one. Patients may be educated on topics such as Pathophysiology of diabetes, treatment options, coping strategies, nutrition, physical activity, blood sugar monitoring and behavior change strategies.