Medicare MNT rates · Medicare rate

Medicare MNT payment rates in California, 2026

By Javier Alvarez · Updated October 15, 2026 · 4 min read

California has 29 Medicare payment localities, and what a dietitian is paid depends on where the practice sits. In 2026 a unit of 97802 pays $32.88 in Rest of California and 11 other localities and $39.78 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito County), a gap of $6.90 per unit or $27.60 on a one-hour initial visit. The middle of the state's range is about 7.5% above the national amount.

What Medicare pays a dietitian per unit in California

Each amount is what Medicare pays the dietitian for one 15-minute unit in an office or other non-facility setting, after the 85% MNT rule. Localities are sorted from the highest 97802 rate to the lowest.

Full fee schedule and facility amounts

The table above is the dietitian's 85%. Here is the full Physician Fee Schedule amount behind it, and the lower amount Medicare pays when the visit happens in a facility setting such as a hospital outpatient department.

What a visit pays in California

Medicare MNT is billed in 15-minute units. A one-hour initial assessment is 4 units of 97802, a 30-minute follow-up is 2 units of 97803 (or G0270 after a new referral for a change in condition), and a patient's first-year benefit is 3 hours, which you could bill as the 4-unit assessment plus 8 units of follow-ups. The MNT units calculator turns minutes into units.

The rows are the highest-paying locality, the middle one, and the lowest-paying one. Every locality's rates are in the tables above and in the CSV download.

How the California numbers are built

Take San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito County), whose 2026 GPCIs are 1.110 for work, 1.442 for practice expense and 0.536 for malpractice. For 97802 in an office: (0.53 x 1.110) + (0.56 x 1.442) + (0.01 x 0.536) = 1.40118 RVUs. Times the 2026 conversion factor of $33.4009 that is $46.80, and 85% of it is $39.78. The RVUs come from the CMS PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv file and the GPCIs from GPCI2026.csv; the full method is in the report.

Before you bill Medicare MNT in California

These rates only apply when the visit qualifies: a registered dietitian or nutrition professional enrolled in Medicare, a beneficiary with diabetes or kidney disease not treated with dialysis (or within 36 months of a kidney transplant), and a referral from the treating physician. The Medicare MNT coverage guide covers enrollment, hour limits and referrals, and Medicare coverage for nutrition counseling explains what the patient's benefit includes. For code rules, see CPT 97802, CPT 97803 and G0270 and G0271.

Closest to California on the 97802 rate: Massachusetts ($32.26 to $34.90) and Hawaii and Guam ($33.29). Every state is in the 2026 report.