Insurance Billing

MNT CPT Codes: 97802, 97803, 97804 Explained

Which MNT code fits which nutrition visit: 97802, 97803, 97804, Medicare G0270/G0271, 99401–99404 and S9470, with a decision table and links to each code.

By Javier Alvarez · Published July 12, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · 6 min read

Most nutrition visits billed to insurance use one of three CPT codes: 97802 for the first MNT visit, 97803 for every follow-up, and 97804 for group MNT. Medicare adds G0270/G0271 for extra hours after a change in condition, and some commercial plans pay nutrition under 99401–99404 or S9470 instead.

This page is the map: which code fits which visit, and where to go for the details of each one. Every code has its own page with units, rules and denial traps, all collected in the MNT billing codes reference.

The nutrition billing codes at a glance

The Medicare status notes come from CMS's physician fee schedule files: 99401–99404 carry a non-covered status for Medicare, and S9470 is not valid for Medicare claims. Commercial plans set their own rules, so the right code for a given member is whatever that plan's nutrition policy names. Verify the member's benefits before the first visit.

Which code for which visit

This is the decision most dietitians make dozens of times a week. Start at the top and stop at the first row that fits.

If you are stuck between the first two rows, the full comparison, including when a payer will accept 97802 a second time, is in 97802 vs 97803.

Units, in short

97802, 97803 and G0270 are billed in 15-minute units; 97804 and G0271 in 30-minute units. You count face-to-face time with the patient (in person or on video), not charting time afterward. Most payers apply the midpoint rule for time-based codes: a unit counts once you pass the halfway point of it, so a 60-minute initial visit is usually 97802 × 4.

The note has to support the units. If you bill 4 units, the documentation should show the time that earns them. For the minute-by-minute thresholds, use the MNT units calculator; for why payers count this way, see the 8-minute rule for dietitians. Some commercial plans also cap units per visit or per year, which is a benefits question more than a coding one.

Pair every code with a diagnosis the payer covers

The CPT code says what you did; the ICD-10 code says why. A correct CPT code with a diagnosis the payer's policy doesn't cover still denies. The short version:

• Medical referral: the referring provider's diagnosis first (for example type 2 diabetes, CKD), with Z71.3 and a BMI code as secondary when they apply.
• Preventive counseling benefit: some plans want Z71.3 first, often with a Z68 BMI code or a risk-factor code.
• Never a BMI code alone or first. ICD-10-CM guidelines allow Z68 codes only as secondary diagnoses, alongside an associated condition documented by the patient's provider.

The full list of codes, ordering rules and payer patterns is in ICD-10 codes for dietitians.

Medicare: MNT is its own benefit with its own limits

Medicare Part B covers MNT for diabetes and renal disease (non-dialysis kidney disease, and the 36 months after a kidney transplant), on a physician's referral. The benefit is 3 hours in the first year and 2 hours in each later year, with more hours only when the physician documents a change in diagnosis, condition or treatment (NCD 180.1; 42 CFR 410.132). Those extra hours are what G0270 and G0271 are for.

Three Medicare-specific traps:

• MNT and DSMT can't share a date of service. If the patient also attends a diabetes education program, schedule them on different days.
• G0447 is not an MNT code. Medicare's intensive behavioral therapy for obesity is a primary-care benefit, and a dietitian can't bill it under her own NPI the way she bills 97802. The G0447 page explains where an RD fits.
• No incident-to for MNT. MNT is a separate Part B benefit, so the RD bills it under her own NPI. See Can dietitians bill incident-to?

For enrollment, referrals and the rest of the Medicare workflow, see the Medicare MNT billing guide.

Telehealth: POS and modifiers

MNT is widely covered by video, but the claim has to say so:

• Place of service: POS 10 when the patient is at home, POS 02 for telehealth from anywhere else (CMS POS code set).
• Medicare's list: the CY 2026 Medicare Telehealth Services List includes 97802, 97803, 97804, G0270, G0108 and G0109. G0271 and 99401–99404 are not on it.
• Modifiers: some payers want modifier 95 (or GT) on top of the telehealth POS, others reject it. This varies by payer and by Medicare contractor, so check the payer's telehealth page. A wrong combination is a common CO-4 modifier denial.

The current Medicare rules and dates are in Medicare telehealth for MNT in 2026.

The five denial triggers to check before submitting

1. 97802 billed for an established patient → use 97803. Payers often deny the repeat as a frequency or duplicate edit.
2. Units don't match documented time → recount with the midpoint rule, or fix the note if the time was never written down.
3. Diagnosis not covered by the payer's MNT or preventive policy → often returned as CO-11, CO-50 or CO-167.
4. Missing or wrong telehealth modifier/POS combination → CO-4 or a front-end rejection.
5. Eligibility problems — the plan has no nutrition benefit, or the visit cap is used up (CO-119). Verifying benefits before the first session prevents this whole category.

Every one of these is checkable before the claim goes out. That's the real lesson of MNT billing: denials are mostly predictable, which means they're mostly preventable — either with a rigorous pre-submission checklist or with software that validates claims automatically. When one gets through anyway, the denial code lookup tells you what the code means and how to fix it.

How Farela helps: Farela generates the billing codes from your session itself — units from actual session time, diagnosis pairings validated against payer rules — and submits the claim for you, flagging problems before the payer ever sees them.

Part of MNT CPT & HCPCS codes.