Nutrition Assessments

Nutrition Assessments and Counseling for Pregnant Women on Medicaid

• Medicaid will reimburse Registered Dietitians (who are Medicaid Providers) for their nutrition assessments and nutritional counseling services provided to women who are gaining excessively or not enough during their pregnancy. These women must be referred to a registered dietitian by their health care provider.
• A registered dietitian can provide nutrition support for women during their pregnancy by providing nutrition assessments, nutrition counseling, monthly monitoring of eating and physical activity goals, assistance with maintenance of adequate weight gain during pregnancy and not gaining excessively, provide nutrition care plans to referring health care providers.
• In 2005, almost forty percent of pregnant women in Utah were overweight or obese prior to pregnancy and over half of pregnant women gained excessive weight during pregnancy.
• Adverse consequences of overweight/obesity prior to and during pregnancy:
• Gestational diabetes
• Hypertension
• Potential complications during labor and delivery as a result of excess weight
• Poor glucose control for mom and baby
• Increased risk for C-section
• The greater the excess weight gain during pregnancy, the greater the weight retention for a longer period of time after delivery
• USDA has recently released the new MyPyramid nutritional guide for pregnant and breastfeeding women, which specifies important healthy foods that one needs to eat in order to have a healthy baby.

Resources:

Utah Dietetic Association, www.eatrightutah.org email: eatrightutah@yahoo.com

United States Department of Agriculture, www.mypyramid.gov