NEW ORLEANS—The American Telemedicine Association is advocating for expanded coverage of medical nutrition therapies for patients with chronic conditions.
The organization’s lobbying group sees potential to get policymaking done at the federal and state levels because of President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign, which had zeroed in on the chronic disease epidemic.
Telehealth advocates are leaning into the administration’s priorities to expand access to virtually-delivered medical nutrition therapy, personalized nutrition recommendations and lifestyle coaching to prevent and treat chronic diseases.
The White House Domestic Policy Council and the Department of Health and Human Services have both shown interest in creating new policies around food-as-medicine in meetings with ATA, Kyle Zebley, executive director of ATA Action, said.
MAHA has stressed reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases and decreasing the reliance on pharmaceuticals to treat conditions. In public comments, RFK Jr. also has voiced his concerns about chemical additives and synthetic food dyes in food.
One of the MAHA Commission’s main policy directives is to “ensure expanded treatment options and health coverage flexibility for beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention,” per a White House fact sheet.
“The top concern is the diet,” Kennedy said on the Dr. Phil show on Friday. “We have 10,000 ingredients in our food while Europe only has 400.”
ATA launched its Virtual Foodcare Coalition on April 9 with founding partners Albertsons Companies, Inc., Circle Medical, Foodsmart, Hims & Hers, Lifepoint Health, Nixon Law Group, Nourish and Teladoc Health. The coalition held a strategy meeting on Monday at the ATA Nexus conference.
“President Trump has unparalleled sway over this Republican Party,” Zebley said on Monday. “So is there a way that we fit in these ideas of virtual food therapy, medical nutrition therapy, in a way that will be endorsed by and become permanent? I think that there is.”
The group will lobby for changes to medical nutrition therapy policy at the state and federal levels to align virtual care with food and nutritional support.
“Our Virtual Foodcare Coalition seeks to improve health outcomes and reduce costs more sustainably, by promoting the use of evidence-based nutritional counseling and real-time food buying assistance through innovative technology,” Zebley said in a statement.
Many virtual care companies, like Hims & Hers and Teladoc, have rolled out comprehensive weight care management solutions that include medical nutrition therapy and lifestyle coaching in addition to weight loss drugs.
The group is pushing for the Medical Nutrition Therapy Act to be passed in Congress. The legislation would change Medicare coverage policies for MNT by expanding the conditions that are covered beyond diabetes and kidney disease to include prediabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, malnutrition, eating disorders, cancer, HIV/AIDS, gastrointestinal diseases, including celiac disease and cardiovascular disease.
The bill also would expand the types of providers that can refer patients to nutrition therapy and create demonstration projects for virtual foodcare through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
The bill was first introduced by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) in 2023. The bill will likely be reintroduced to the 119th Congress in the coming months, Zebley said.
On the floor of the Senate, Collins called for the passage of the bill to reduce the chronic disease burden in the U.S. and expand access to preventive care.
“At a time when the increased prevalence of diet-related chronic conditions is contributing to poor health outcomes and growing healthcare expenditures, increasing access to MNT should be part of the strategy to improve disease management and prevention for America’s seniors,” Collins said in November 2023, when she introduced the bill.
The coalition also wants to work with public and private healthcare payers to support food benefits management programs; advance online access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and expand remote therapeutic monitoring billing codes to include nutrition monitoring.
At the state level, advocates in the coalition are pushing for the passage of the Dietitian Licensure Compact, which allows RDs to practice in other compact states without getting another license. In the 2025 legislative session, eight additional states passed the compact bill, and it was introduced in another 13.
Eleven states have the compact in place, and the eased licensing rules will be effective soon. Besides the compact, ATA Action is backing legislation that would stand up programs for medical nutrition therapy and make fresh, healthy food available to residents.
Some states, like Connecticut, have taken the approach of using Medicaid 1115 waivers, which would give the programs funding for nontraditional Medicaid services. A bill in Connecticut directs the Medicaid program to apply for an 1115 waiver for a food as medicine program.
ATA Action is pushing for the states to include language in their food-as-medicine laws that allows for the virtual provision of nutrition care to guarantee telemedicine providers benefit from the laws.