West Virginia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

WVAND Critical Information About WV Licensure | December 8, 2021

Licensure for dietitians in WV is in jeopardy. The West Virginia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (WVND) in conjunction with stakeholders are working on the issue.

Why Now?
Delegates Steele (R - Raleigh) and Foster (R - Putnam) sponsored House Bill 3035 to terminate the West Virginia Board of Licensed Dietitians (WVBOLD) by June 30, 2022. Last year, the bill did not get to the voting stage. However, on December 5, 2021, language was again proposed to the Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization (Committee) to eliminate WV licensure for dietitians. If the Committee agrees, the bill then goes to legislators to vote on during the regular session, January 13 - April 10, 2021. In our current political environment, many legislators are pro-deregulation, which makes it likely that we will lose our licensure if we do nothing.

Why is it Important to You?
In WV, licensure is a prerequisite to being included in the definition of “health care practitioner” which integrates us into WV health care regulatory codes and payment structures.

Without the ability to get licensed we would no longer be considered a "health care practitioner" which would:

create barriers to receiving health insurance reimbursement,
impact the legal ability for WV dietitians to obtain order writing privileges,
effect the ability to provide telehealth,
make us the only healthcare provider not licensed in WV, and
cause patients and communities to bear the physical, health and financial costs of navigating and receiving conflicting, confusing and often inaccurate nutrition information

Why Not CDR?
Why can’t we just rely on the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) credential of RD/RDN? At first that sounds like it might make sense, but removal of licensure would unnecessarily unwind dietitians from the current interwoven framework of healthcare laws and regulations, would be highly inefficient, and would create gaps in patient care that are not easily rectified. Also, CDR is a private entity, and it may not be wise or legal for a state to rely on such to guarantee qualifications of practitioners.

Next Steps
Members of the WVAND Public Policy Committee and Board of Directors have been communicating with legislators, employers, insurance companies, other professional licensure boards, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Government and Regulatory Affairs Team, and as many stakeholders as we can identify.

In the next week or so, we will be providing you with concrete action steps and tools to engage in maintaining licensure. In the meantime, if you would like more information the following Academy resources are helpful:

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact Heidi Church, MS, RD, LD, WVAND President (president@eatrightwv.org) or Helenia Sedoski, MS, RD, LD, WVAND Public Policy Committee Chair (publicpolicy@eatrightwv.org).