Tips for Meeting with a Legislator

• Learn about the legislator and identify how licensure connects with issues important to the legislator and constituents.

• Arrive on time.

• Introduce yourself, identify your Virginia connection, and explain that you are participating with VAND.

• State the issue early, use clear talking points, and make a specific request. Begin with a brief explanation of licensure and avoid assuming prior knowledge.

• Share a relevant constituent, patient-access, or professional experience, while protecting patient privacy.

• Provide a concise leave-behind and your contact information.

• Thank them for their time.

Suggested Talking Points 

• Licensure protects the public by establishing objective standards for education, supervised practice, examination, ethics, and accountability for professionals providing MNT.​

• Licensure helps consumers identify professionals who have met state-established qualifications to provide safe, ethical, evidence-based nutrition care.​

• Licensure can support access to nutrition services by giving health systems, payers, and public programs a consistent, state-recognized standard for identifying qualified practitioners. Coverage and reimbursement decisions remain subject to each payer's policies.

• The Dietitian Licensure Compact would create a streamlined pathway for eligible licensed RDs to obtain authority to practice in other participating states through compact privileges.​

• The Compact can support continuity of care and workforce mobility when patients or RDs relocate or when services are provided across state lines, including through telehealth. Each RD must obtain a privilege for every remote compact state in which the RD practices.

Downloadable Leave-Behind Materials 

Dietitian and Nutritionist Practice Act Leave Behind

• This document provides a succinct explanation as to the aims of modernizing legislation seeking to license the practice of medical nutrition therapy in Virginia.

Dietitian Licensure Compact

• This resource explains how the Dietitian Licensure Compact works, eligibility for compact privileges, and potential benefits for practitioners, regulators, and the public.

CDR Certification vs State Licensure: What is the Difference?

• ​This resource explains the distinct roles of a national professional credential and a state-issued license, including eligibility, maintenance, multistate practice, and public-protection functions.